Team CSC’s Carlos Sastre put a nice finishing touch on his Tour de France leftovers by notching an impressive top 10 at the hard-fought Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday in Spain.
Sastre, fresh off finishing fourth at the Tour de France last weekend, sprinted to seventh place in the 225-kilometer route over the green hills of Spain’s Basque Country. Italian Leonardo Bertagnolli won in a two-up sprint with Sastre coming in with a five-man chase group at 18 seconds back.
Team CSC pulled three riders over the key Alto de Jaizkibel with less than 25 kilometers to go, with Christian Vande Velde and Fränk Schleck joining Sastre in the decisive split in the main pack of riders.
Team CSC’s Bobby Julich chugged away in and early breakaway that the main peloton reeled in as it neared the jagged Jaizkibel climb towering above the Bay of Biscayne.
The main pack split up the steep road with Team CSC keeping its best cards in play. Bertagnolli and Juan Manuel Garate slipped away with less than 10 kilometers to go and stayed clear as a group of 30 chasers couldn’t organize the chase.
“I pulled the last kilometer up Jaizkibel, it was just attack, attack, attack. There were some crosswinds and it’s kind of flat up there, so we were just flying. It was just to put the hurt on everyone else,” said Vande Velde, who finished 15th at 37 seconds back. “No one was really cooperating – it was pot luck. If you got away, you got away. Those guys went and they won it.”
Schleck admitted he was tired after a long racing season that’s included strong performances in the spring classics and the Tour. Schleck led the chase in the closing kilometers but couldn’t get much cooperation from other teams.
“We were riding for Carlos and Christian. Nobody knew how the legs were after the Tour. We just tried to work together,” said Schleck, 26th at 1:36 back. “We know each other on the team so we know exactly who was good by just taking a look. Carlos and Christian were best today.”
Volodymir Gustov finished 58th at 5:25 back while local hero Iñigo Cuesta came through 95th at 12:26.
The ProTour series kicks back into gear later this month at the Tour of Germany and the Vattenfall Cyclassics.-CSC news
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