Spaniard Carlos Sastre, a surprise Tour de France champion in 2008, announced his retirement on Thursday at the age of 36.
The GEOX-TMC rider told a press conference at a Madrid hotel he had made the decision last year.
“The time has come to bring this cycle to a close,” Sastre said. “Next year, I will start a new phase, although I do not yet know what I will do.”
Photo: EPA
Sastre, who grabbed podium finishes in all the Grand Tours, was made to wait before succeeding at the highest level.
Serving as a domestique in Manolo Saiz’s ONCE team, he won the mountain classification in the 2000 Vuelta a Espana, but it seemed for a long period that his time would never come.
However, he built his 2008 Tour triumph on the ascent of the Alpe d’Huez, also benefiting from then CSC manager Bjarne Riis’ decision to give him the leadership of the team ahead of the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, while Alberto Contador had not been invited to race because of his team’s doping record.
Sastre, who subsequently never did better than finishing third overall on the 2009 Giro d’Italia, collected a total of six podium finishes on the Giro, Tour and Vuelta.
A steady, but unspectacular rider, Sastre came to prominence on the grueling climb to l’Alpe d’Huez in 2008, attacking the field from the bottom of the ascent to leave Australian Cadel Evans trailing by 2 minutes, 15 seconds.
He then held off Evans in the final time trial to win the Tour, dubbed a “joke” by seven-time champion Lance Armstrong, who later apologized to the Spaniard.
Sastre fought his last battle in this year’s Vuelta, finishing a distant 20th as Geox teammate Juan Jose Cobo triumphed.
“Being alongside the winner of the Vuelta and in the winning team was the best conclusion to my career,” he said.
RASMUSSEN FIRED
AP, COPENHAGEN
Four-time track cycling world champion Alex Rasmussen of Denmark was suspended on Thursday by his national federation over missed doping tests and fired by his team.
Rasmussen has missed three tests in the last 18 months and has received two warnings from his national anti-doping agency and one from cycling’s governing body UCI, Denmark’s Cycling Union said on its Web site.
“Alex Rasmussen has been suspended and the Sports Confederation of Denmark’s doping council will raise a case against him,” the cycling body said in a statement. “Alex Rasmussen cannot take part in next week’s world road cycling championship in Copenhagen.”
HTC-Highroad fired Rasmussen after being notified of a new missed test and discovering that he missed two tests before joining the team last year.
“Mr Rasmussen missed a test and additionally did not inform the team,” HTC-Highroad team manager Rolf Aldag said. “These are clear violations of the team’s code of conduct. We act on these violations immediately.”
With HTC-Highroad soon to fold, the 27-year-old Rasmussen had been due to join the Garmin-Cervelo team next year, but his contract has now been ripped up.
“Our policy is stringent,” the Garmin-Cervelo team said in a statement. “In light of this situation, Alex Rasmussen will not be joining our team.”
TOUR OF BRITAIN
AFP, LONDON
Australia’s Mark Renshaw stepped out of the shadow of HTC-Highroad teammate Mark Cavendish to win the fifth stage of the Tour of Britain on Thursday.
Dutchman Lars Boom of Rabobank retained the race leader’s jersey after an aggressive 180km race from Exeter to Exmouth in southwest England.
Despite being a sprinter in his own right, Renshaw has spent the past three seasons as Cavendish’s lead-out man for the bunch sprints and in doing so has been key in many of the Isle of Man rider’s 20 stage wins on the Tour de France.
Renshaw will race for Rabobank next season and he showed the Dutch outfit has can fight his own battles when he finished ahead of Cavendish, Germany’s Robert Forster and Welshman Geraint Thomas in a bunch sprint on the seafront in Exmouth.
The Tour of Britain, which finishes tomorrow, continues with stage six, a ride from Taunton to Wells, England.
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