Pablo Lastras of the Spanish Caisse d'Epargne team is hurting big time after a crash in the opening week, but wants to keep going to help his teammate and roommate David Arroyo get the best possible result in the Giro d'Italia. Arroyo leads the overall, as the race is in its final week, with plenty of climbs still to come.
Lastras is suffering every day for the team. "Frankly, I am not doing well, as I came to the Giro in great shape and with lots of ambitions to win a stage. But the crash in Holland changed all the plans," Lastras said.
He is partially better, but still far from perfect. "The knee pain has passed, but there is no solution for the tail bone problems. The pain there is proportional to the effort. The harder I go, the more it hurts. The doctors tell me that four or five days of rest will solve the problem." Of course, that is not appreciated advice in a stage race, especially with both rest days already taken. "I can just hope now that I can finish the race."
Lastras wants to finish because he knows he can be useful for the team. "If I put up with this, it is partially because of that [helping Arroyo -ed.]. Because with my experience in this race I can be the captain on the road for the team and give advice to the youngsters for the descents, the tactics of the Italian teams, the parcours," the rider from Madrid said.
Lastras is the veteran on the team and helps keep the morale up high. As the roommate of Arroyo throughout the race, he also knows the pink rider very well. "Arroyo is very modest. He likes to take it day by day, without generating too many expectations. Although yesterday, after the time trial, I noticed a notable change in his mentality. For the first time, when he came back to the room, he told me: "Pablo, now I believe in the podium."