Competitions

Cervelo TestTeam race quotes: Tour de France Stage 14

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Parent Category: Competitions

Category: Tour de France 2010

Published on Sunday, 18 July 2010 19:41

Written by Luca Salvatelli

Carlos Sastre (ESP): “I am tired now, but I am content for trying to go for it. I feel better every day and I was especially motivated to race today. I can suffer again on the bike and I am coming closer to my normal self. Volodymir and I attacked at the bottom of the Pailhères but there was a lot of headwind and the favorites didn’t give me too much space. The beginning of this Tour de France was not easy for me, with all the problems I had from my crash at the Giro d’Italia, and again with my crash on the cobblestones. Today was a special day for me. I won here in 2003, and today I had extra motivation. Maybe I cannot win the Tour de France, I am here to fight and do my best. My teammates and helped me as much as they could. We tried, but we couldn’t do it, but if you don’t try, you never know.”

Sport director Jean-Paul van Poppel (NED): “It’s really good to see that Carlos is finding his legs in the third week, and that he can do a stage like today. That’s really incredible. We can be really satisfied with that, and there are more mountain stages to come. Volodymir did a good ride to put Carlos in good position. Like you’ve seen this entire Tour de France, no one gives any space to anyone. It’s very difficult to get a gap bigger than 40 seconds. We can be proud and happy with his performance. Carlos is getting better day by day in the Pyrénées. Carlos is really a fighter, he proved that again today. The riders have to feel good and they have to make the decision to attack. He’s smart enough, he’s seven minutes or more back in the GC, so if he wants to go for a stage, that was the best moment to attack on the Pailhères.”