Following a change in the Tirreno-Adriatico route, Luis León Sánchez has changed his mind and will now defend his Paris-Nice title this year. Just a couple of weeks ago he announced that he will be riding Tirreno-Adriatico instead and that he was looking forward to the new challenge.
After talking with his Caisse d'Epargne team, Sánchez will be making the trip to France. "We decided on an important change in my program. I'll be riding Paris-Nice (March 7-14) and not Tirreno-Adriatico, as initially planned," the Spaniard said.
"It would have been my first participation in this Italian race and I was looking forward to it, as on first glance the announced route would have suited me very well, with a time trial, a mountain top finish and another stage in the medium mountains," he continued.
The problem was that the initial route was modified. "The time trial and the stage to Montelupone [mountain top finish] were taken out again. Under these circumstances I prefer to defend my title in Paris-Nice, a race that I always liked and where I can play an important role next to Alejandro Valverde."
His preparation is going well. In yesterday's stage with the uphill finish at the Volta ao Algarve, Sánchez ended in ninth place. "I was going well, but Contador showed that he is going better than the rest of us in a final that suits him really well, with a short climb that requires explosiveness."
Sánchez was quite happy with his top ten placing. "I am very satisfied because even without being at 100 percent yet I was going well, with my form improving every day." He will take it easy today and targets the final stage. "This is making me calm and I will try to do something in the time trial on Sunday."