Carlos Sastre has mixed emotions from tjhe 2011 Giro d'Italia that finished on Sunday. He was clearly upset with the tragedies and the tough route did not make his job easier. On the bright side he enjoyed the scenery and overall was pleased with the race.
The Feria in Milano was the start area. It was surprisingly quiet, with fewer spectators than expected. This could have been due to the fact that the race was to start somewhere else initially, but had to be changed on late notice. So the atmosphere was almost like at a criterium. Sastre sat relaxed on the ground when he chatted to VeloNation.
The Spaniard remembers the tough start of the race three weeks ago. "It has been a difficult Giro for many different reasons. There was the day we lost Weylandt, then Tondo," the Spaniard said. Other factors mattered as well. "It was a hard parcours. There were lots of things that made it a very tough race."
Despite the setbacks, he also made positive experiences. "In the end it was also a very nice race. The parcours was very beautiful, with the mountainous stages, the sandy roads - it had everything," Sastre stated. "I think it was an exciting race."
Sastre is an experienced stage racer, who sometimes does Giro, Tour de France, and Vuelta a Espana in one season. The 2011 edition tested him, with his final finishing position being 30th overall. “For me it was tough, I was not feeling good since the beginning,” Sastre said. However the Spaniard is motivated by adversary. "It was a battle but in the end I beat the battle. I am in Milan, today we have the last 26 kilometers of the race." In the end the balance is more positive than negative. "I was enjoying it a lot. I saw a lot of different things from a different point of view. That is very important to me.
For the GEOX team, the goal was to have Denis Menchov contend for overall victory. The Russian rode an anonymous race, yet still finished inside the top ten. "Everybody on the team did the maximum they could. It's maybe not what someone expected, but the race is what it is," says Sastre and shrugs his shoulders. "For me the most important is to go back to my bed and be satisfied with myself, because I gave 100 percent - I did all I could do. In that way I am quite happy."
Sastre did not want to compare his previous CSC and Cervelo Teams with his current Geox squad. "They are different - completely different,” he said.