Sastre ready for Lombardia

By Antonio J. Salmerón

CSC's Spanish leader Carlos Sastre has had a strong 2007 season, and as he looked forward to the season closer, the Giro di Lombardia, he reflected that this year he "enjoyed cycling as he never has before". Even though his season has been long, he looked forward to the Italian race, saying it is "a very long and demanding race, but I will go into it with the intention of collaborating fully with my team-mates to get the victory".

Sastre has had a racing programme that would exhaust most riders, but compared to the his 2006 season, where he raced all three Grand Tours, Sastre is going into the final ProTour race feeling relatively fresh. "I feel good, better than expected," he said.

Sastre spent the last week in Italy racing with his team, and knows that he will be racing with one of the hot favourites for the victory in Como. "In the Coppa Sabatini I was getting in a lot of breaks, working for Schleck and Kolobnev, who are better than me at the end of the season," he explained. "It allowed me to be ready for the Giro del'Emilia, which Schleck won. I enjoyed the race. I think that CSC will start with strength and morale in Lombardia," the Spaniard assured.

He also travels to Barcelona to take part in the Escalada a Montjuic, in which he was second in 2005. "After competing in Italy, I reached an interesting peak of form."