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A Fred’s Eye View: A Conversation with Phil Zajicek

Published: Sep. 6, 2005
Hail Britannia: Zajicek enjoyed his time at the Tour of Britain
Hail Britannia: Zajicek enjoyed his time at the Tour of Britain

While most eyes have been turned to the Vuelta a España thismonth, the smaller six-stage Tour of Britain (August 30–September 4) featuredsome of the most competitive racing the European continent has witnessedin 2005. When all was said and done, only 40 seconds separated the race’stop six finishers.

Although the Tour of Britain does not carry ProTour status, a handfulof peloton's top squads, including T-Mobile, CSC, Quick-Step and MrBookmaker,did send riders. Present were some heavy hitters, including reigningworld time trial champ Michael Rogers and Belgian strongman Nick Nuyensof QuickStep, CSC’s Lars Michaelsen and Michael Blaudezun, Discovery’sRoger Hammond (Riding for the British National team) and T-Mobile’s classicsspecialist Steffan Wessemann.When the race, which began on the city streets of industrial Glasgow,Scotland, ended in downtown London, it was Nuyen’s who stole the show,not to mention the leader’s jersey. But finishing fourth, only 33 secondsdown was American PhilZajicek of Navigator’s Insurance.

Zajicek played his cards throughout the six-day event like the seasonedveteran he is, and helped create the decisive break on the third stagewhich sent the race’s eventual top six finishers into the driver’s seat.Heading into the final day’s criterium, Zajicek sat in fifth place, onlyfive seconds behind Ben Day (MrBookmaker). He nabbed seven seconds to overtakeDay, and just missed the podium by a mere 11 seconds.The performance was especially impressive considering Zajicek was hobblingon a cast with a broken heel he suffered in May’s BoulderStage Race  a couple of months ago. I had had a chance toget some sushi with Phil in late June. The cast was gone and he had resumedhis maniacal training, but he still could only muster a hobble-like walk.I continually had to “soft pedal” my walking pace so that Phil could actuallykeep up. Still, according to him, his heel was feeling “pretty good.”Now, with the cast long gone and his best result of the year under hisbelt, Zajicek is feeling really good. I figured it was time to checkin again.VeloNews: How did the injury influence the way your race turnedout?Phil Zajicek: I came into the race really fired up. Coming inI wanted a minimum top-10 finish because I knew this could be my last opportunityfor the year. But right now the heel is fantastic. I had a few problemswith my Achilles, but nothing serious. I felt like maybe I was missinga little of the top end from not having raced much, but it felt great.VN: What kind of training were you doing leading up to the race?PZ: When I broke the heel I knew that this race would be my goalfor the season because all of the mid-season stuff was out. I put all ofmy eggs in one basket. I trained really hard for six weeks in Boulder.Definitely being at high altitude helped a lot. I did a lot of stuff atthe Boulder Center for Sports Medicine (http://www.bch.org/sportsmedicine/)with intervals on the trainer while breathing a high oxygen concentratethrough a tube to simulate riding at sea level to train the high powerstuff you can’t do at altitude. I think doing those intervals helped alot. You get that high explosive power by riding at sea level. It’s essentiallyliving high and training low.VN: I think of the British countryside as being relatively flat.How difficult were the climbs?PZ: Most were short and there was nothing that was super steep.I was hoping we were going to do some bigger ones and I don’t think wegot to do the biggest climbs on the continent. Most were good five or tenminute climbs. Compared to something in Colorado, they were like Old Stageroad or Lee Hill. But the pace was pretty hard going up.VN: Who was pushing the pace up the climbs?PZ: Michael Rogers was doing a lot of tempo on the climbs. Bladezunand Arvesen of CSC were also really strong. Bladezun was really strong.I also remember some of the Comunidad Valencia guys attacking really hardup the bigger climbs as well. But Nuyens was the strongest.VN: Tell me about the Stage 3 (Leeds to Sheffield) breakaway.PZ: There was a group of eight or nine guys up the road mostof the day, but none of them were really a threat. All of us were goingjust for time. We were 12k from the finish going up Snake Pass when sevenof us were able to get away. We had only 20 seconds at the top of the climbso we had to completely peg the descent. I pushed it really hard on thedescent and took a lot of risks. CSC had two riders up with us doing workand were able to put in some time on the group.VN: Was the pace comparable to some of the races you’ve donein America?PZ: Stage racing in America is really hard, don’t get me wrong.But when the big guys are going over in Europe, it’s really not like anythingin America. This is a level above. These are the grand tour guys and theydon’t mess around.VN: Did you feel that the European peloton conducted itself ina more professional manner?PZ: (Laughs) Yeah, but I got into it with the Japaneseguys. The were pretty hazardous and taking a lot of unnecessary risks andriding like total amateurs. These guys were all over the road. When wewere sprinting for fifth place in one stage they almost caused a crash.I had to have some words with them after stage four. I told this guy tolearn how to ride his …bike. He told me if I ever came to Japan he would“mess” me up.VN: What were the conditions like for the entire race?PZ: We were really lucky. We had maybe 30 minutes of rain throughoutthe entire thing. Mostly sunny and hot. It was like 80 degrees and muggyin London for the final crit. Finishing in front of Big Ben with 100,000spectators was really neat. I love coming to these big races.VN: Do you have any more big races lined up for the year?PZ: Its a little bit up in the air right now. Hopefully the yearisn’t over. I should find out soon whether I’m on the team for worlds.If so, there’s a good chance I’ll do the Sun tour in Australia. EitherBritain is my last race or I’ll be racing through October. Hopeuflly it’snot over because I feel really good right now. After having that monthoff I have a lot of motivation and I’m having a lot of fun.VN: Did you come to Britain hoping to turn some heads on theEuropean teams?PZ: Yeah, that was certainly a thought. Ever time you come toEurope you want to show yourself to the Euros. We don’t have too many chances,so every opportunity you get you try and show ‘em something good. Ultimatelythat’s where I would like to be racing.VN: Any pitches for contracts from ProTour squads?PZ: Not too much. I had a good talk with the CSC director today,we’ll see if anything comes from that. I haven’t signed a contract yetfor next year, but I think there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll staywith the Navigators. I’m having a lot of fun with the team. This week wasa lot of fun for us.VN: How special is this result for you in your career?PZ: This week was definitely fantastic. Just being able to racewith some of the best in the world was pretty cool. When guys like Arvesenare attacking and you’re covering them and able to keep up that’s a bigboost. I know I wasn’t the strongest guy there, but I never got dropped.Still, I think that winning China last year was my proudest moment.Even considering the unfortunatecontroversy afterward