Backstedt on pre-Roubaix roller-coaster

By Tim Maloney, European editor

Cyclingnews grabbed Magnus Backstedt before Milan -San Remo for a brief chat and asked the large, likeable Swede how his preparation for his defense of his Paris-Roubaix crown was going.

"Oh I went down for three weeks with the flu!" Backstedt told us. "I got a bad throat, recovered from that, got a fever recovered from that...so it's all messed up." We asked Backstedt if his preparation for Roubaix might be compromised and he replied, "Possibly. I don't know I still have time to get my form back. So we'll see; I'm taking it day by day at this point."