Carlos Sastre won just three races in the first ten years of his career but his victory at the 2008 Tour de France and his emergence as a real team leader at Cervelo has inspired him to ride more aggressively and turn each chance of victory into a personal challenge.
“Once I was happy just to make other people happy, to help make their dreams come true. Their happiness came before mine – for lots of reasons in my career,” he said.
“Things started to change during the Tour of 2006, for me it was the start of a new part of my career. I was able to rediscover the aggressive rider I once was, the rider who won races against the best as an amateur. I started to see life in a different light. Winning isn’t a triumph of popularity, it’s personal. It’s a personal goal, that’s been the most important change for me.”
Sastre is set to finish the Giro with two prestigious stage wins and fourth overall. However, he was shooting for at least place on the podium until struggling on the climb to Blockhaus on Wednesday.
“I’ve got two nice victories, but my goal for this Giro was something more,” he said.
"I attacked several times at the beginning of the steep section but I made a mistake and I couldn’t follow them. I’d lost three key team mates in crashes and that was also part of the problem. I lost too much time and for that mistake, I am not on the podium of this Giro.”
“However, I’m very happy, we’re a new team but we won three stages in our first major Tour. Things have been good in the team. They help me and they believe in me. That’s really important for the future.”
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Giro d'Italia 2009 links
Stage reports
Stage 19: Sastre takes second Giro mountain stage; Menchov safe in pink
Stage 18: Second Giro stage win for Scarponi
Stage 17: Pellizotti wins on Blockhaus, Menchov remains in pink
Giro rest day review (May 26)
Stage 16: Sastre wins stage to Monte Petrano
Stage 15: Bertagnolli gifted stage win by Cervelo mix-up
Stage 14: Gerrans solos to win
Stage 13: Cavendish takes his third Giro win and prepares to head home
Stage 12: Menchov storms to Giro TT win and race lead
Stage 11: Cavendish romps to second Giro stage win
Stage 10: Di Luca lays down the gauntlet
Giro rest day review (May 18)
Stage nine: Cavendish blitzes rivals to win in Milan
Stage eight: Siutsou makes it two in a row for Columbia-Highroad
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