Former Paris-Nice winner Luis León Sanchez is the likely leader of the Caisse d’Epargne team in the forthcoming Tour de France, and is pleased to report that he is gaining strength as the Tour de Suisse progresses.
“I am feeling better every day,” he said this evening in Wettingen, shortly after a fourth stage marred by a big crash between Mark Cavendish (HTC Columbia), Heinrich Haussler (Cervélo Test Team) and others. The Spaniard fortunately avoided the incident, and will seek to build on his 71st place overall in the harder stages ahead.
Sánchez was injured when he collided with a car on June second in Murcia, but stage three showed that his form is returning.
“Yesterday I attacked in the final part of the stage at about eleven kilometers from the finishing line. I did it for two reasons. The first is that I wanted to know how I was really feeling. The second is the fact that we knew our team had a chance to win that stage.
“Team-mate Rigoberto Uran wanted to try something and it was better to have a rider of the team ahead of the race than having to chase one or more breaks behind. Rigoberto finished second but at least we did our best to try and do it; also, we knew that in case we had to face a sprint, José Joaquín Rojas would be able to win the race. And today he showed again he is in great condition by taking fourth.”
With team-mate Alejandro Valverde set to miss the next two Tours de France courtesy of a CAS-imposed doping ban, Sanchez now has the chance to shine. He has been tipped by many as a future Grand Tour winner, but has yet to put it together over three weeks. His pedigree in shorter events is clear, though; this year alone, he has won the Circuit de la Sarthe, taken second in the Volta ao Algarve - where he raced to a time trial victory ahead of Alberto Contador – second in the Tour Down Under, third in Paris-Nice, and fourth at the Volta a Catalunya.
He last completed in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and his long layoff from racing plus the effects of his crash mean that it is taking a little while to get back into the groove of racing. However he’s felt better and better as each day has passed, and hopes to be ready for the big mountain stage in two day’s time.
“I had very bad days in the prologue and the first stage. I almost could not breathe and of course the rain and the cold weather did not help,” he said. “But yesterday and today I began having good feelings again. I hope I will improve tomorrow too before the terrible mountain stage on Thursday.”
The Caisse d’Epargne team will be quietly hoping Sanchez can ride strongly in the Tour de France. Its main sponsor is pulling out after this season, and so it is keen to line up a new backer.
Rumours exist that Banco Santander might get involved as a sponsor and that Alberto Contador could move to the team, but nothing is confirmed as yet. In the meantime, Sanchez is top dog and will seek to make the most of his opportunity.