Former Tour champion hopes to get back his mojo after recovering from bronchial infection
Carlos Sastre has recovered from the respiratory infection that so affected his performance in last month’s Volta a Catalunya, and will lead the Geox-TMC team in the Vuelta a Castilla y León, which starts tomorrow. The Spanish team has not been invited to the Tour de France, and so the 2008 champion is targeting the Giro d’Italia, which starts on May 7th.
What was referred to as a cold as he was riding the week-long race turned out to be more serious and Sastre was forced to take two weeks off the bike to recover.
“After the Volta a Catalunya I preferred to stop to take care of this bronchial-pulmonary infection,” he explained. “It was the right choice; if I had gone on like that the risk wouldn’t have been worth it. Now I want to get back and work with serenity.
“The Vuelta Castilla y León will be especially important to evaluate my actual fitness and recover my mojo and racing rhythm. Fortunately, after Vuelta Castilla y Leon there will be another three week’s time to fine tune my conditioning in the lead up to the Giro d’Italia”.
Sastre will be accompanied in the race by a multinational team, which will include 22-year-old Matteo Pelucchi, who has taken the team’s only victory so far this season in February’s Clásica de Almeria.
While Sastre has recovered from his illness though, there is some bad news for the team as David De la Fuente suffered a fractured scapula (shoulder blade) in a crash during Sunday’s Klasica Primavera. The ever-aggressive Spanish rider will need to rest for at least three weeks and so will no longer feature in the team’s Giro d’Italia plans.
Geox-TMC team for the Vuelta Castilla y León:
Matthias Brandle, Gianpaolo Cheula, Fabio Felline, David Gutierrez, Marko Kump, Matteo Pelucchi, Carlos Sastre and Marcel Wyss.