TOULOUSE, France, 18 July 2003 — After several second places this season Juan Antonio Flecha finally hit the bull’s-eye yesterday when he won the 11th stage of the Tour de France from Narbonne to Toulouse.
“I was unlucky this season and to win today will never make up for all the second places I’ve collected,” said Flecha, whose name means arrow.
“I just had to keep fighting. And this is the centenary of the Tour so this win will stay in history.” When crossing the line, Flecha mimicked an archer as if he had fired the winning arrow at last.
“That’s a gesture I make when I win and my team mates were starting to have fun at me over my second places. They would say the arrow was blunt,” he said.
“It was a fine chance to make that gesture and make the most of it.”
The Spaniard’s victory after a long breakaway was almost a home return for him as his girlfriend lives in Toulouse and he knew the 153.5 km course like the palm of his hand. Despite being born in Buenos-Aires, Flecha is a Catalan and he said his feat meant even more as he is the first rider from Catalunya to have won a Tour stage since Jose Perez-Frances in 1965.
“I’m very proud to have put an end to this long period without a win, and I hope it will inspire other Catalan riders. There are a lot of other good Catalan riders coming up and I’m sure we won’t have to wait for another 38 years,” he said. Unlike most other Spanish riders, Flecha is a good one-day classic racer and he said he was hoping to one day win a big one. But it might not be with the Ibanesto.com team as the Spanish bank is expected to pull out of cycling next season.
“We know that the future of the team is uncertain but we just want to focus on our job, which is to help Francisco Mancebo and Denis Menchov. “We just hope that this historical team will survive as a structure with a new sponsor,” he added.
