With Alberto Contador’s season essentially over, Saxo Bank-SunGard will be heading to the Vuelta a España with Chris Anker Sørensen as the leader. It will be the Dane’s second participation in the race; he previously rode it in 2007 where he finished nineteenth overall.
“I'm a bit excited to see what the legs are capable of after Tour de France which ended only three and a half weeks ago,” Sørensen said.
“However, I'm feeling fully recovered and on top of things and besides from my participation in Tour of Denmark and a few home criteriums, I have taken some time off to recuperate. Mentally it's been good for me to spend time with my family and my newborn baby girl.”
Sørensen is no stranger to Grand Tours and last year won a stage in the Giro d’Italia. He has spent a large part of his career riding in support of ex-teammates Andy and Fränk Schleck then alongside Contador in the Spaniard’s unsuccessful bid to defend his Tour de France title this year. Now he will have his own chance at victory.
“For a start, I'm going for the GC [general classification] but I'm deciding after stage four as it's the first major mountain stage. If I do well there, I might as well continue aiming for the overall classification and if I fail, I've got my eyes set on a few mountain stages to win,” Sørensen said.
“There are a few uphill finishes that suit me really well and [with] a single time trial in addition, an overall result might be doable. But there are other strong contenders in our Vuelta line-up. JJ (Haedo) can aim for the sprints with Jonas (Aaen) and Jaro (Marycz) and Nicki (Sørensen) and Nick (Nuyens) are always eager and strong enough to pull it off in a breakaway.”
Many riders traditionally use the Vuelta as preparation for the world championships and even though the course this year doesn’t suit the climber, it takes place in his home country, which should be attractive to him.
“Everything depends on the current condition,” he said, admitting his participation is not certain. “Make no mistake, I would be honoured to be selected for the national line-up and I would love to help Matti (Breschel) getting a medal on home ground. But if I feel exhausted and tired after the Vuelta, I won't hold on to the spot if someone else is stronger and would be a bigger help than me. But right now, it's Vuelta time,” said Sørensen.