Cervélo TestTeam's Carlos Sastre came out on the attack during the Tour de France's first stage in the Pyrénées today after finishing the race's Alpine stages without making a mark on the race. The 2008 Tour de France winner had a tough road coming into the race after a Giro d'Italia that, if it wasn't for bad luck, he would have had no luck at all.
The 35 year old almost missed a start in Rotterdam due to injuries he sustained at the Italian Grand Tour. Only weeks before the start his team revealed that he had suffered a posterior spinal disc herniation and a central extruded disc of the L5-S1 as a result of crashes in the Giro. He was able to heal just in time to take the start in the Grande Boucle.
Sastre is known as a rider that gets better as a Grand Tour progresses, and he's looking forward to the next few stages where the battle for victory will be held on higher ground.
“I am tired now, but I am content for trying to go for it," he said after the finish on Ax 3 Domaines. "I feel better every day and I was especially motivated to race today. I can suffer again on the bike and I am coming closer to my normal self."
Weather played a factor in Sastre's bid for a stage win today, but it didn't deter his motivation to attempt a repeat of his previous success.
"Volodymir and I attacked at the bottom of the Pailhères but there was a lot of headwind and the favorites didn’t give me too much space," he explained. "The beginning of this Tour de France was not easy for me, with all the problems I had from my crash at the Giro d’Italia, and again with my crash on the cobblestones. Today was a special day for me. I won here in 2003, and today I had extra motivation."
The Spaniard was realistic about his Tour de France and, while sitting well back in fifteenth place puts him out of the running for the maillot jaune, it doesn't mean he can't find success.
"Maybe I cannot win the Tour de France, I am here to fight and do my best. My teammates and helped me as much as they could. We tried, but we couldn’t do it, but if you don’t try, you never know,” he concluded.
Sport director Jean-Paul van Poppel was glad to see Sastre on the attack, but the tactics on the road prevented a win for the team.
"It’s very difficult to get a gap bigger than 40 seconds. We can be proud and happy with his performance. Carlos is getting better day by day in the Pyrénées," van Poppel warned. "Carlos is really a fighter, he proved that again today. The riders have to feel good and they have to make the decision to attack. He’s smart enough, he’s seven minutes or more back in the GC, so if he wants to go for a stage, that was the best moment to attack on the Pailhères.”