Unzúe analyses Tour for Caisse d'Epargne

At the end of the 94th edition of the Tour de France won by Alberto Contador, Eusebio Unzúe, the directeur sportif for Caisse d'Epargne, analysed the Tour. He expressed that "if one is at the start with the hope of a win, but then goes home with sixth, the first reaction is that we didn't meet our objectives." The Spaniard pointed out, however, that "we were confronted with an atypical Tour. Despite all that, I am satisfied with the Team's general conduct all along the Tour, as it was always attentive. A stage victory would have been welcomed and I believe deserved, but on the other hand, two of our riders are classified in the top ten overall and we are taking the second place overall in the team's classification, which shows our force and consistency."

Unzúe also commented on his captain Alejandro Valverde, who finished the Tour for the first time. The directeur sportif sees it as a benefit that "Valverde has gained experience which will serve him in the future and the fact to make it to Paris in his third participation is very important for him. He was brilliant in the first part of the Tour, but less so in the second part."

Unzúe believes that what Valverde learned is really important for him in the future. He also commented on Oscar Pereiro, who still doesn't know if he finished first or second last year. He was very content with Pereiro's performance as well, as after his status of podium man, "he entered the race this year as a much more controlled rider and didn't have the possibility to go into breakaways like last year. But for the first time he did a race with great consistency, without having a bad day, and that is very important for his development."

The third rider Unzúe had good words for was David Arroyo, who "has demonstrated another time that he is a very consistent rider. He is very important for the team and offers a lot of security in the mountains." And concerning Ivan Gutiérrez, he was the nice surprise on the team, being present in the most difficult escapes, on the most important days in the Tour. Unzúe added the team also could count on Txente García Acosta and the good work of Fran Pérez et Nicolas Portal. "Vladimir Karpets was also very important for the team."

The directeur sportif concluded that "the team Caisse d’Epargne was riding at a high level and had a strong and balanced event. We should not forget that Xabier Zandio was a crash victim at the beginning of the Tour. We lost an important man who would have allowed us to act even better."