Cervélo TestTeam captain Carlos Sastre is riding his final Grand Tour for the black and white team. Having finished eighth in May’s Giro d'Italia and twentieth in July’s Tour de France, the 2008 Tour winner is aiming to win his national event.
Like most of the peloton, the rider from Madrid is feeling the hot southern temperatures, but feels that they are adding to the race.
“It has been another hot and fast stage with an explosive finish,” said Sastre. “I think it has been a really tough day and we used up a lot of energy again. If these temperatures keep up, this is going to be a knockout Vuelta.”
Sastre finished in a group 30 seconds behind stage winner Philippe Gilbert (OmegaPharma-Lotto), alongside Tom Danielson (Garmin-Transitions) and Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo). Most tellingly though, he lost 27 seconds to Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), 12 to Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and 11 to both David Arroyo (Caisse d’Epargne) and Fränk Schleck (Saxo Bank).
These few seconds do not worry him much at this stage though.
“I got through the day without any problems,” he said, “and in the last partwhich was a truly explosive climb I think I was lacking that spark that I need to be up with the best riders, but that must be given the fact that this is the third big tour I'm racing this year. Even so, there is still a lot left to go and we’re moving on bit by bit, getting through the days without any setbacks or problems.”
Tomorrow’s stage, between Málaga and Valdepeñas de Jaén, features a similar finish, following a jagged profile across the hills to the west of Granada. While the profile offers Sastre few opportunities to attack, he will once again be looking to stay out of trouble.