The Improbable Champion

When Carlos Sastre moved from ONCE to CSC in 2002, I always believed that CSC director sportif Bjarne Riis signed him to work for his more prestigious teammates. He had to work for the now “disgraced” Tyler Hamilton (because he’s beyond his prime) and later for the still suspended (he’s still a prized commodity) Ivan Basso.

Entering this year’s Tour, I still didn’t believe that he’d be a podium finisher despite finishing in the top 10 a few times. Even after winning the Queen Stage to Alpe d’Huez, I still couldn’t see him getting by Cadel Evans in the final ITT. That’s how off the mark my assessment was of Sastre.

Sastre grew up in Barracco, a town rife with drugs. To steer the youngsters away from the menace, Sastre’s dad created a cycling team of which Carlos and future brother-in-law, Jose Maria Jimenez were the stars. Jimenez was the more charismatic, more explosive but enigmatic rider compared to the calm and consistent Carlos. Jiminez, the best Spanish climber when he was in the right frame of mind, was the equivalent of Marco Pantani. And like the Italian, he succumbed to drugs at age 32.

Sastre was the third “pure climber” to win the Tour in the last 20 years. Pure climbers as Tour winners are a dying breed since whatever time they can gain in the mountains can easily be overcome with a good team, a great TT skill and an average climbing ability. Maybe before the 70’s you could win without a team because teams working together were unheard of until Eddy Merckxs created the blueprint on how to put together a team for the Tour.

For the likes of Sastre, there has to be certain circumstances for them to win. In 1988, Pedro Delgado won the Tour because the last 4 tour winners- Laurent Fignon (84), Bernard Hinault (85), Greg Lemond (86) and Stephan Roche (87) were absent. Marco Pantani unexpectedly won in 1998 when the powerful Jan Ullrich had an “un jour sans” (one bad day), suffered a hunger knock and lost almost 9 minutes. Even though I know he won’t admit it, I also think Sastre was grateful that Alberto Contador could not defend his crown this year.

If there is one person Sastre should be thankful, it is Riis. Riis is known as a shrewd manager, great tactician and someone who can renew a supposedly “washed up” rider. His successful projects included Ivan Basso, Stuart O’Grady and Bobby Julich who shone after being released by their former teams.

While it’s still too early to talk about the 2009 Tour, I’d like to say that window of opportunity for Cadel Evans is so small right now that it would be next to impossible for him to win the Tour in the future. He’d be 33 next year and with the return of ASTANA, this year should have been his year. Maybe his team should have hired better domestiques than what he had instead of hiring Lance Armstrong’s ex-bodyguard. For me, the hiring of a bodyguard was like counting the chicks before the eggs was hatched. BTW, only Lance has the style points and the palmares to wear Superman’s cape.

Carlos used to write a column for the British cycling magazine, PROCYCLING and I honestly didn’t like the way he wrote but I later realized that he was what he wrote the same why he raced. I will never say never for Carlos but like Evans, I’ll venture to say he’ll be hard-pressed to repeat next year. In the meantime, let’s celebrate Sastre, let’s celebrate the Tour de France!