2008 champion Carlos Sastre has contradicted reports in the Spanish media that he said he will forgo next year’s Tour de France in favour of chasing victories in the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España.
“I’m very surprised because at no moment did I say what these headlines are announcing, that I have opted for certain races in 2010 [over the Tour],” he stated on Wednesday. “I indicated after the presentations of the Tour and Giro that until they present the route of the Tour of Spain and I get to study the three carefully, I will not speak about it, "said Sastre.
The misunderstanding appears to have arisen at a presentation made at the Duperier juvenile residence in Avila, where he spoke in front of two hundred resident students from Avila and Segovia. He took questions from the students afterwards.
"Through some of these questions and my answers, the EFE news agency reporter was able to draw their own conclusions," said Sastre. "Maybe when I said that having already won the Tour and not winning either the Giro or the Vuelta I would hope to win one of these races, they made their own interpretation from this.”
Sastre won last year’s Tour de France and finished second overall in the 2007 Vuelta. He won two stages in this year’s Giro and finished fourth overall, although this is likely to be upgraded to third after the positive CERA test of Danilo Di Luca.
He has said that the recently-announced route of the 2010 Tour de France appeals to him, as he thinks it will favour strong climbers.