The adage ‘slow and steady wins the race’ certainly applies to 34 year-old Spanish cyclist Carlos Sastre – his 2008 Tour de France victory was his first in six years of hard work with different teams.
ITV.com/tour examines the gruelling career of the climbing specialist…
Sastre started his career with the ONCE team in 1997, but decided to leave when the team manager refused to give him the leader’s role.
Sastre had chalked up a mere six wins by the time he left in 2001.
After joining the CSC team, Sastre managed to come third in the 2006 Tour de France and fourth in the Tour of Spain in the same year.
Climbing is known to be Sastre’s forte. He cemented this reputation by taking a lone win on the difficult Alpe d’Huez stage at last year’s Tour de France.
Sastre’s victory in the Tour de France in July 2008 came after six years in which he has ridden 18 major tours, but never won one.
Sastre fell out with yet another manager last year, this time at the CSC team. He has since signed to a new squad, Cervélo TestTeam.
