Cervélo TestTeam riders Carlos Sastre and Volodimir Gustov will be forced to sit out the Amstel Gold Race tomorrow due to travel complications from the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull glacier in southern Iceland. The volcano has spewed ash over the skies of Europe forcing many airports, including all major airports around Maastricht, The Netherlands, to suspend flights as a precautionary measure, fearing the cloud could result in engine failure.
“We had most of our riders already in The Netherlands as they arrived before the Brabantse Pijl that took place last Wednesday,” explained the teams General Manager Joop Alberda. “The flights yesterday for Sastre, Gustov and Xavier Tondo (ESP) where cancelled; for Tondo we found a solution to come by car and for Sastre and Gustov, we were depending on the airports opening today but we just received word that all the major airports around Maastricht will be closed until 20.00h tonight."
If all goes well, Sastre will instead ride La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday which was not originally scheduled on his program.
"I have a flight on Tuesday and by then hopefully we will not have anymore problems” said Sastre. “Tomorrow, I will train twice as hard as compensation for the Amstel Gold Race.”
The Spaniard had his first race since last year's Tour de France last month at the Volta a Catalunya. He rode anonymously in the seven-day Spanish race, but is expected by many to show well next month in a Giro d'Italia suited for climbers.