Oregon Cycling Magazine

by Sonya Ewan

When his ProTour Team Astana held a training camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico earlier in the year, 36-year-old Bend, Oregon native Chris Horner took a few minutes off the bike to talk about training, his new team and goals, and fantasy cycling.

Surely the top-contending team in the Tour de France this year, were it not for politics that threaten to keep it out altogether, Team Astana’s overhauled roster includes last year’s Tour winner, Alberto Contador, 3rd place finisher, American Levi Leipheimer and new team manager, Johan Bruyneel. With a spot on Bruyneel’s team, Horner is likely to receive more publicity than ever—in more ways than one. The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which oversees the Tour de France, decided not to invite Astana to the Tour based on the team’s past doping issues. But Astana’s last-minute invite to the Giro d’Italia hints we might get to see the team in the 2008 Tour de France after all.

Horner’s resume includes an overall win at the Tour de Georgia in 2003. He came in 9th in a stage of the Tour de France in ’05 and finished 64th overall in ’06. Oh yeah, and he beat Lance Armstrong in a race back in 1991 (before either was pro). Even in the past couple years, Horner has consistently improved. While his former teammate, Cadel Evans, stood on the podium as 2nd overall in the 2007 Tour (thanks in no small part to Horner’s pacing), Horner came in a nifty 15th himself.

“It’s been happening that way, hasn’t it?!” beams Horner when I point out his steady climb in the ranks. “Getting older and getting better!”

How will riding for Astana be different than riding for Predictor-Lotto?

That’s the good thing about switching to this team. I think there will be more options of getting a chance to try to win a stage. With Predictor-Lotto, I didn’t have any chances because I was the guy who had to be next to Cadel at the finish of the races. If I went up the road and wasted energy, there might not be someone with Cadel between the second and last climb, and that’s when he really needed someone. So you never saw me try to get in breakaways except the very last day, when Cadel was safe.

And if Astana is invited to Le Tour?

It’s possible I’ll get a shot at winning a stage, because we have so much talent on the team to look after the leaders. I’d just like to help the team win the Tour again, honestly. I’d rather help someone win the Tour than be 9th myself. Last year was great. I got to finish 15th and help someone get 2nd, which was fun. But if you can help someone get 1st and you finish 30th – I’d rather that than finish 10th.

Talk about the benefits of training and racing in the US vs. Europe.

When we have training camp in the States, it’s huge for me. The hotel is better; the food is what I’m used to; I don’t have to worry about changing my training around because if I come back and the hotel put the food away, I know I can get more. In Europe, that’s not an option. They shut down the whole place. Here, you have a fridge in your hotel room! They don’t have fridges in your room in Europe – they don’t even have ice. Right now I have a bit of a sore knee, so when I get done training, I can eat and go back upstairs and ice my knee. It sounds small but [in Europe] if you have to walk to the bar three different times, the third time they look at you like, “You’ve used your quota. That’s it. We gave you two glass-fulls.” These are huge things. If you’ve been to Europe, you start laughing. You understand.

Say – I know you get a massage after a long day in the saddle. Do you ever try acupuncture, particularly during training?

Normally, I don’t use it much but I do have a friend who does it and lives in San Diego. He’ll pop over to my house and do it in no time. The most difficult thing is, it’s really hard to fit it into your day. The whole purpose is to get you better and rested and if you have to spend an hour in your car, you’re probably better off just sitting on your couch. Unless of course you have an injury. Then it’s something different.

You have a reputation as anyone but the guy measuring out rice and veggies for a recovery meal. Care to prove me wrong? What’s the best recovery dinner?

[Chuckles] In-N-Out? In general it’s not, but I’ve won a lot of races off of that stuff. It upsets a lot of guys because they’ll be eating all their plain pasta. After a while, they get tired of eating pasta, and we’ll be on the way to a bike race in the States and stop [for a burger].

As a top pick yourself, what’s your take on fantasy cycling?

It’s getting really popular. I think the second year I was in Europe, I was a big favorite on the fantasy picks because I came cheap. I was on a lot of people’s fantasy lists just because of the right area where I came in, to fill in the gaps on everybody’s teams. I just haven’t had time to check it out myself.

Who would you bet your points on for a fantasy team?

Sprinters are pretty simple. You have [Robbie] McEwen and [Tom] Boonen. I’d pick Boonen. He can win you stages in the Tour. If you’re looking for the purest sprinter, you’d take Robbie. But Boonen has to be top of the list.

If I was looking for a pure GC guy I’d say [Andreas] Klöden. He has yet to win the big stage races on his resume, but on my book he’s the favorite. Last year he was just doing so much help for his team, but that boy has the whole package.

Pure climber is someone like Contador or maybe Carlos Sastre. They’re not the best in the time trials, but the others can’t time trial at all.

For the most bang for your buck, the young [Thomas] Dekker on Rabobank won Romandie last year. He’ll get you some points for sure, and he’ll be riding better ‘cause he’s young, too. [Alejandro] Valverde is one of the most spectacular riders. He’s gonna win anything coming down into a break. He has the full package. He’s a good kid too. I’m sure that’s no secret, though.

Sonya Ewan is a freelance sports writer addicted to riding both her road and mountain bikes and playing ice hockey in and around New Mexico – there’s ice in Albuquerque! Visit her website, including an awesome photo gallery-in-the-making, at www.sportsSlant.com.

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