Sastre To Ride 2010 Tour de France

by gavia on Nov 14, 2009 1:36 PM EST in News Comment 24 comments

Carlos Sastre ended the speculation about his plans for next July by announcing yesterday that he will ride the Tour de France. "This is my race, which I have won once before and I would love to win again," Sastre commented in a statement picked up by the Europa Press Agency.

The Cervélo TestTeam rider explained that next year's course is perfectly constructed for the climbers with very few kilometers against the watch to harm their chances. Sastre also typically improves over the course of a three week grand tour, and he believes the third week climax in the Pyrenées works to his advantage. "The course is to my advantage," he concluded.

Sastre will face a deep field in France including two-time winner Alberto Contador, last year's second place Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank, and the returning seven-time winner Lance Armstrong. The course is climber-friendly and includes two trips up the Col de Tourmalet in the final week.

File Photo, Podium Cafe Photo Collection.

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heh

that photo was one of mine!

"Harder! Better! Faster! Stronger!" Philippe Gilbert

by Chris... on Nov 14, 2009 1:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

credits

I didn’t notice anyone putting credits with their photos. Me, I think it would be cool to be able to credit people by name, rather than as file photo. And it would be easy enough to put Photo By… in the description field on Flickr.

Also, you have mail ;-)

by gavia on Nov 14, 2009 3:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

How'd you mean?

(Couldn’t confirm, link was to PdC account, not PdC group). Credits are implied, no? Author is captioned under every shot.

by tedvdw on Nov 14, 2009 4:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, I was in the Flickr account

not the group. I forgot that Podium Cafe = Chris.

Bah.

by gavia on Nov 14, 2009 6:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Je suis l'etat!

"Harder! Better! Faster! Stronger!" Philippe Gilbert

by Chris... on Nov 16, 2009 11:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

In that case,

pour yourself a glass of Bourbon.

by tedvdw on Nov 16, 2009 12:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

sweet

being a big fan of carlos, 2009 was a bit depressing for me, and i would have liked to see him going all out for the 2010 giro, but i guess this tour is too climby friendly for him not to have a go. hopefully the vuelta will follow the other GTs in terms of route next season, and we get 3 awesome races.

"well...you live in england so: you love the rain. loves the queen. hates cycling. based on mr bean had a tremendous amount of humour. all ride in a mini cooper. all getting drunk before the age of 12. getting drunk at least 3 times a day."- frinking, 7/9/09

by benrazor on Nov 14, 2009 2:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I'd love to win the Tour too.

"…I saw bloody Cavendish coming, really fast…"
HH

by ELVISGOAT on Nov 14, 2009 6:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

What are the chances that Carlos was nudged into this decision?

With invites to next years party kind of hard to guarantee maybe the Cervelo management felt that having a recent tour winner deciding to race along with the last green jersey winner they would be much closer to being guaranteed a spot. I hope he does accept the challenge willingly and that Cervelo gives him as much support as possible while not abandoning Thor either.

"Drawing on my fine command of language I said nothing."- Groucho

by Mark Frank on Nov 14, 2009 6:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

good point

in hindsight, cervelo might have suffered a little cause of their dual focus at the tour. but i recall reading somewhere that thor was going to focus on the classics and the worlds…? i’m sure someone at the cafe has a better memory than me. if that’s true, then perhaps cervelo can give carlos the support he needs. it’s pretty difficult to mount a GC and a green jersey challenge at the same time…columbia have taught us that.

by benrazor on Nov 14, 2009 7:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I dunno about that

Columbia didn’t go for anything on GC this year and didn’t really focus on green last year (or on kirchen either), just stage wins.

by dansel on Nov 14, 2009 7:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i think they did focus on green, at least once the race was underway

cav carping about how it was stolen from him, and the fact that they let kirchen struggle through the mountains alone tell us that no?

by benrazor on Nov 14, 2009 8:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Really though

While Thor was protected pretty well, when it came down to the finish, he rarely had more than one guy left. I think they could have switched Roulston for Gerrans without hurting Thor. But Sastre didn’t have it in him anyway.

Tickets are bought, Belgium here I come!

by jsallee00 on Nov 14, 2009 10:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i agree on the thor bit

but sastre…the key climbing stages at the tour (as it turned out) weren’t explosive summit finishes, and he had done the giro at 100% before entering the tour..which was in hindsight a mistake. if you look at the level he rode at during his two stage wins at the giro, i reckon he would have dropped anyone at the tour, except bert obvz, and maybe andy. so i don’t know, i still think he could podium/top 5 if everything goes his way, although the competition has definitely improved since 08.

by benrazor on Nov 14, 2009 10:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It all depends

on whether he goes stage-hunting or chasing the GC in the Giro. I think he stands a good chance of winning the Giro if he shoots for it, which makes me worried about a potential podium spot or 4th in the Tour.

by dansel on Nov 14, 2009 10:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Columbia's shot after the green was all based on Cav winning a ton of stages

Aside from that, they didn’t play like green was a huge goal. If they had, they would have at least tried to mark Thor when he went on his mountain escapade.

by dansel on Nov 14, 2009 10:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It all depends on the sprinter

A Freire or McEwan doesn’t need support to get green, maybe just one guy. Thor takes more away from Sastre because he’s a long sprint kinda guy.

by dansel on Nov 14, 2009 8:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I like Carlos and it would be good to see him race well...

… but I have to think he is a level below the top GC guys – well, a level below AC at least.

However, if he does ride hard, it means that Contador is actually going to have his work cut out – a not great team, and at least three other potential winning teams – Shack, Saxo, Cervelo. Given that he won’t have great teammates, if those three teams gang up it might be a hard fight…

by addict on Nov 15, 2009 5:19 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Too bad he didn't ride the 2009 TdF . . .

by Sui Juris on Nov 15, 2009 12:52 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Im not sure if hes thinking straight anymore

He doesnt stand a chance at the tour, but if he put his energy into the Giro or Vuelta he could contend for the win. This doesn’t make sense to me, but I wish him the best and hope he puts on a good climbing show like 2008.

by agl on Nov 16, 2009 11:40 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Don't you think it's more likely that Cervelo bosses are calling the shots?

It sounds to me that he’s singing the party song. Cervelo claim to have built a team around him, so now he’s expected to fulfill what I expect they see as his part of the bargain.

"How strange it was to see men doing something beautiful. Something pointless and elegant." Tim Winton, 'Breath'

by Seahorse on Nov 16, 2009 11:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs