SPANIARD Carlos Sastre is not as glamorous as other riders in his CSC team but he showed yesterday why manager Bjarne Riis made him team leader by seizing the Tour de France top spot on l'Alpe d'Huez.
Sastre took the leader's yellow jersey off team-mate Frank Schleck at the top of the race's best known climb and will hope to become the third Spaniard in succession to win the Tour, after Oscar Pereiro and Alberto Contador.
"I must thank Fran
k, Andy (Schleck] and Bjarne for allowing me to break away in the last climb to win this stage and take the jersey," he said.
"At the bottom of the climb, I told Frank 'I'm going' and he gave me the go-ahead. Both Frank and Andy sacrificed their chances for me. That's what our team philosophy is about."
Sastre's one minute and 34 seconds lead over pre-Tour favourite Cadel Evans, who sits fourth, looks extremely slim and may not be sufficient to prevent the Australian from taking his revenge after narrowly losing to Contador last year.
Saturday's individual time trial between Cerilly and St Amand-Montrond amply favours Evans, who can theoretically bridge the gap over 53 kilometres.
If it is any indication, Sastre lost 1:16 to Evans in the first time trial of this Tour, in Cholet in the first week. The 29.5-kilometres stage was almost half the length of what Evans now calls "the last test of truth".
Last year, in a similar time-trial on the penultimate day of the Tour, Sastre also finished 2:50 behind the Australian. But the 33-year-old Sastre, who was third overall in 2006 and fourth last year, refuses to indulge in such calculations right now.
"Honestly, I don't know if I can win the Tour," said the Spaniard, whose only previous Tour stage win was in 2003, in the Pyrenees resort of AX-3 Domaines.
"For now, I just want to recuperate and hopefully spend the next couple of days enjoying the yellow jersey. Saturday will come soon enough," he said.
Victory in l'Alpe d'Huez is in itself a great achievement, especially as Sastre is only the third rider from his country to win at the top of the renowned 21 turns leading to the ski resort.
He completed the climb in 39 minutes and 31 seconds, almost two minutes slower than the course record held by Marco Pantani since 1997, the year when Sastre turned professional.
Evans faces a tough battle to win the Tour, even though the Australian will be the favourite in Saturday's decisive time trial, according to his Silence-Lotto team's sports director Mark Sergeant.
"Today, they (CSC] played the Sastre card, it was clear. If Cadel was less than a minute behind, it would have been better," said Sergeant, adding that he had feared the gap would be even bigger.
"With five kilometres remaining, the gap was growing too much. I told him he had to react," he said. "He took his responsibilities. If you want to win the Tour, you have to go for it."
Although Evans looks set to gain at least two minutes over Sastre in Saturday's race against the clock, Sergeant said he would not take anything for granted.
"Yes, I am worried. It will be extremely tight," he said. "We must not forget Denis Menchov."
Russian Menchov is fifth overall, 2:39 behind Sastre, and is a decent time trialist.
Evans has been backed by his own team-mate Mario Aerts of Belgium, however, who said he had faith in his leader.
"Sastre surprised everybody by attacking at the foot of l'Alpe d'Huez. But with a 1:34 deficit, it remains very possible," said Aerts.
Scotland's David Millar finished 38 minutes behind the leaders in 118th place and is now 71st overall, some two hours back.
Today's stage is a 196.5-kilometre run over medium terrain from Bourg-d'Oisans, through the hills of the Monts du Forez, on the way to Saint-Etienne which could still cause some fatigue near the end.
The full article contains 684 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
