March 18/01 10:50 am - Roland Green Interview

Posted by Editor on 03/18/01
 

Redlands Classic, California

We just finished speaking with a tired but happy Roland Green (U.S. Postal - Trek/VW). He did not change his overall standing (third), but a breakaway he was in forced Mercury and Saturn to chase hard enough that the Posties were able to then set up Levi Leiphemer for the stage win. "Three stage wins is pretty good" said Green.

"It was good (the stage), I felt really strong. I broke away with a Mapei rider, and Scott Moninger was sitting on for Mercury. We got a gap of 1:40, but Mercury was at the front chasing, and there is no way we could keep all those guys off. We were doing 50-55 (kmph) on the flats! It was perfect because Levi could sit in and stay fresh."

Roland said his best ride was in stage 4 - the stage where he lost the leader's jersey. "I was really happy with my Oak Glen ride. We arrived at the base (of the climb) 4 minutes behind (of the break with Trent Klasna (Saturn) and Chris Horner (Mercury) ), and I was able to make up two and a half minutes on the climb. There was nothing else we could have done to catch them - we were chasing as hard as we could, but there were 18 guys (in the break)."

Roland also revealed that he has been offered a full-time position with Postal. "They've offered me a position on Postal Service, but I am going to stay with mountain biking, I'm happy mountain biking. I feel flattered. It's sort of strange after my years of road racing and not making it that it would happen now."

Roland will still do projects with Postal, as his mountain bike schedule allows. ""I want to do as many big TT's as possible; the ultimate would be to win the the TT at the Commonwealth's." He also did not rule out trying for the national road team for the World's this year (once I pointed out that it is a month after the mountain bike Worlds...).

Finally, we spoke about the new team. "It is a great team. the bikes are great, and so are the people. We've got the best equipment - my TT bike, it is so beautiful..."

We will publish full results as soon as they become available.