Carlos Sastre: The dark horse rider

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Carlos Sastre in the spotlight(Image credit: Shane Stokes)

An interview with Carlos Sastre, February 4, 2009

Carlos Sastre's been a professional rider since 1997, when the whippet-like Spaniard joined Manolo Saiz's ONCE squad. Despite now being one of the most seasoned campaigners in the peloton, he felt a little dwarfed by the physical presence of teammates such as Fabian Cancellara at last year's Tour de France. "I felt like a small chicken," Sastre says with a smile. "A small guy between all the big guys in the team."

Sastre's win in the Tour was unexpected. True, he'd been one of the most consistent Grand Tour riders in recent years, having taken 20th, 10th, ninth, eighth, 21st, third and fourth in the Tour editions between 2001 and 2007. The Vuelta had also brought the same kind of results, starting with the King of the Mountains classification and eight overall in the 2000 Vuelta, then sixth, second, fourth and second again between 2004 and 2007.

Sastre rode the perfect race, quietly moving up the general classification and then making his big move just five days from the end. Starting the day fourth overall, he attacked hard at the bottom of Alpe d'Huez, drew clear of all the other challengers (nearly breaking Menchov in the process, the Russian being the only rider who tried to match his acceleration), and soloed to both the stage win and the yellow jersey. He then finished a solid 12th in the final time trial and ended the race 58 seconds clear of Evans.

"That day I knew that I had my opportunity and I had to fight for it, and that is what I did," he explained. "If you wait until the last part of the climb, you cannot make a big difference. But if you attack on the bottom, you see more things about your rivals and yourself. I knew that I am a climber, a pure climber, and that I had to do my best on that climb, to dig deep in order to get my goal. I succeeded, taking the stage victory and the yellow jersey. It was a really nice day."

Since then, all has been different. Functions, appearances, countless interviews, awards; Sastre has done them all, experiencing the hullabaloo that transforms the life of the sport's biggest champions. "My life around me has changed hugely... not everything, but almost everything," he explains. "That said, my own life, my private life, is as before - I am the same person. Two kids, my wife, two dogs... We are happy. I try to keep it like this."

Other than experiencing life as the Tour champion, another very big change for Sastre is the jersey he will be wearing in 2009. He decided to leave the CSC Saxo Bank team early last summer, perhaps recognising that the other talents on the team would be making things very crowded at the top before too long. That seems a wise choice, given that many regard Andy Schleck as a future winner of the Tour de France. Sastre had already ridden as a super domestique for Ivan Basso, and had no desire to return to that role.

"Of course, if nobody talked to me about this project [Cervélo], maybe I would have chosen another team," he said. "But as soon as we finished the Tour de France, Gerard Vroomen [Cervélo co-owner] talked to me about his project, his idea, and without thinking too much, I decided, 'Okay, I will go with them'. I like the project, I like the philosophy and those two things were the main reasons," he says.

For the first time in his career, Sastre will start a season as the clear leader of a team. At CSC he rode for Basso and, while he took over as team captain in 2006, Frank, then Andy Schleck came to the fore in 2007 and 2008. It deflected some of that attention away from the Spaniard's ambitions. Now all eyes will be on him however, especially as he will be wearing the number 1 dossard in this year's Tour.

Sastre is confident that they will line up for the Tour and, indeed, speaks as if it has been privately confirmed to him already. "We have a place in the Tour, we have a place in the Giro, we have a place in the Vuelta," he says. "We have got a lot of respect for the big organisations and we have an opportunity to do the best races in the world. Honestly, with this project we have a lot of open doors, and it is because of respect. They respect the project, they respect myself. I am really happy to hear that."

Astana looks very strong on paper and the big news about Armstrong's return will generate a lot of the headlines, grab much of the pre-race hype. If so, that will suit Sastre just fine. He seems to slot well into the role of dark horse; he is a modest, self-deprecating character, someone who jokes about looking like a chicken in yellow. But if the lessons of 2008 are to be heeded, he certainly shouldn't be written off.