I was just thinking; ‘I’ll need to SMS Ryder and tell him that our interview is up on the site,’ when I received an SMS myself, from Dave; ‘Hesjedal and Garcia are up the road,’ wow! I thought to myself. Then another; ‘your man has won!’

It was the second rest day when we caught up with Garmin’s Ryder Hesjedal; the day after his team mate Tyler Farrar’s long-time-coming first Grand Tour stage win - and two days after Ryder’s own excellent second place to Simon Gerrans (Australia & Cervelo) on stage ten to Murcia. The tall man from Victoria in British Columbia, Canada was on the massage table when he answered our questions.

‘Velo 2009,’ the annual professional cycling bible, makes no mention of Fredrik Kessiakoff (Sweden). That’s because in 2008 he was in the world of fat tyres, grip shifts, flat bars and suspension – a mountain biker, albeit, one of the best in the world. 2009 has seen him establish himself firmly on the road scene – we caught up with the Fuji-Servetto man after the baking heat of stage 6 in Xativa as he races his second Grand Tour of the year.

It was back in the Spring - after some strong early season showings – that we last spoke to Cervelo’s Dominique Rollin; he was enjoying the Vuelta rest day calm in his hotel room in Spain when we caught up with him this time. Dominique takes us inside the first few stages, talks about team goals, his own goals, muses on Grand Tour life, and much more. Read on!