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SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND,
France—Carlos Sastre handled his latest test, and is one
step from the Tour de France title.
The
33-year-old Spaniard all but locked up victory by
holding off Cadel Evans of Australia and other
contenders in a decisive time trial in Stage 20 on
Saturday—a day before cycling’s showcase event ends in
Paris.
Worn
down by an onslaught from Sastre’s powerful CSC team
during the three-week race, Evans couldn’t muster the
leg power he needed to erase a one minute and 34 second
deficit, and was caught off guard by the Spaniard’s
skill.
Overall,
after more than 84 hours of racing since the July 5
start in western Brest, Sastre leads Evans by 1 minute,
5 seconds, while Bernhard Kohl of Austria is third, 1:20
behind.
By the
math of the Tour, that’s close—but just enough for the
soft-spoken Spanish veteran to take home the yellow
jersey on Sunday.
“This is
the dream of my life that’s become a reality now,” said
Sastre, who finished in the top 10 in five of his
previous seven Tour appearances. “I was feeling better
and better and was in top form at the end of this week.”
Sunday’s
finale—an 88.9-mile ride from Etampes to the Champs
élysées—is likely to be a ride of honor that won’t
change the overall standings. In the Tour’s etiquette,
attacks on the leader are frowned upon in the last stage
and any attempts at a breakaway by a rival are easy to
counter on the flat course anyway.
Expect
CSC to protect Sastre hawkishly on Sunday, and keep him
out of trouble—like a crash, which looms as the only
imaginable threat to his hold on the jersey.
In the
Spanish village of El Barraco, northwest of Madrid,
where Sastre lives, hundreds of fans watching the race
on a giant screen TV cheered wildly as he crossed the
finish line—some jumping and hugging each other in joy.
Sastre
made the sign of the cross, kissed his fingers and shook
them skyward as he crossed the line. He credited his
teammates, who sheltered him from the wind in the stages
after he took the jersey in the last and most punishing
Alpine ride Tuesday. That helped him save energy for the
time trial.
“On the
climbs, CSC were so strong. It comes down to they have
two or three times the budget we do, they can straight
away buy much better quality riders,” said Evans, the
Silence Lotto team leader.
“Strength in numbers, it was no surprise,” he said. “But
Sastre’s ride in the time trial today for me was a real
surprise.”
Kohl’s
Gerolsteiner teammate Stefan Schumacher of Germany won
the time trial, a 32.9-mile race against the clock in
central France from Cerilly to Saint-Amand-Montrond, for
his second stage win this year.
Kohl,
who began 1:33 back of Sastre, gave a standout
performance to retain third place overall. He’s better
known as a solid climber, having already locked up the
polka-dot jersey given to the Tour’s best mountain man.
The
Austrian deprived a podium spot from Denis Menchov of
Russia and Christian Vande Velde of the United States,
who were each faster than Kohl, Sastre and Evans on
Saturday—but had too big a deficit before the stage.
This is
the second-straight year that the Tour has seen one of
its tightest finishes, with the lead up for grabs going
into the final time trial—giving some much-needed
sporting drama to an event that has been dogged by
doping scandals for several years.
Three
cyclists, including Italian star Riccardo Ricco, were
kicked out of the race during the first two weeks.
Sastre, however, insisted his success has come through
hard work and sacrifice, saying unequivocally: “I’m
clean.”
“There
have been cheaters in the past, and there always will
be,” he said. “But there are people who work silently,
with honesty, and who are outside of all these
controversies.”
Sastre
is poised to become the third Spaniard in a row to win
cycling’s premier race. Alberto Contador won last year
and Oscar Pereiro inherited the 2006 title that Floyd
Landis of the United States lost in a doping scandal.
Evans
was second last year, 23 seconds behind Contador.
In the
stage, Schumacher clocked 1 hour, 3 minutes, 50 seconds,
trailed by CSC rider Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland,
21 seconds back. Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg was third,
1:01 behind. Sastre was 12th, 2:34 back.
Evans
had been seen as a favorite: He placed second in two
Tour time trials last year that were about the same
length. But on Saturday, he finished seventh, 2:05
behind the German.
“I will
be back next year,” said Evans, 31. “I think I have
three or four good Tours left in me.” (AP) |
