"Yeah, but I think last year was also not bad," said Team CSC's man for the breakaways, Jens Voigt, to Cyclingnews when asked if he rates 2005 as his best season so far.
"[In 2004], I was third in the Tour of Med, fourth in Paris-Nice, I won the Criterium [International], I won Bayern Runfahrt in Germany... so last year was not bad. But this year was also fantastic: so far I have eight wins - seven if you don't count the team time trial in the Tour of Med, but I still count it; we won, we were on the podium, so that's a win. So even if I don't win any more, the season is already good."
One race Voigt didn't mention was his second place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 24, where he narrowly missed out on victory after being in a 50 kilometre two-man escape with eventual winner Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile). Arguably, it was the 33 year-old's best Classic result ever, even though his palmarès indicates wins in Paris-Bourges and the Grand Prix Cholet, as well as numerous stage - and stage race - victories, perhaps his finest coming on the sixteenth stage of the Tour de France in 2001, where once again, he found himself in a breakaway.
"Always does, always feels good enough!" said Voigt with a big smile when one brings up the topic of a possible escape during last week's Tour de Suisse. "My Dad always used to say: 'Listen son, your mind controls the body, not the other way 'round' - so sometimes you just have to set your mind on something and then it happens."
Earlier last week, the friendly German said he was suffering a lot, a consequence of taking too much time off racing after a successful Spring campaign. But on a tough final day in Ulrichen, which included 50 kilometres of climbing on a 100 kilometre stage, Voigt came good and got himself in the early break, before dropping back to help their GC man Frank Schleck as much as he could on the final climb, the Luxembourger finishing second on the stage and fourth overall.
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