| Bicycle Racing in the News |
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| S C G The Schneider Consulting Group, Inc |
| Sastre takes L'Alpe d'Huez Stage in 2008 Tour CSC's Carlos Sastre rolled away from the favorites on L'Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday, winning the classic Tour de France stage and taking the yellow jersey from teammate Frank Schleck. Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank) attacked at the base of the famous climb and built up a lead of about two minutes by the top, while most of the contenders for the overall victory, including Schleck, marked each other. Only in the final 3km did the GC favorites began to work to whittle down Sastre's lead, with time-trial strongmen Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Chipotle) hoping to keep him with striking distance going into Saturday's crucial time trial. Both men finished 2:15 behind Sastre, and Evans now sits fourth overall at 1:34 back, while Vande Velde is sixth at 4:41. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) attacked the favorites in the final kilometer to take second, and Andy Schleck (CSC-Saxo Bank) was third. CSC-Saxo Bank chief Bjarne Riis could not have been happier with how the stage played out. 2008 Tour de France, stage 17: The Alpe Photo: file"We knew we had to attack to drop everyone. When Sastre attacked first at the bottom, he was really strong. Our plan came together perfectly and I'm proud of every one of my team," he said. "Whether Carlos wins on Saturday or not doesn't matter. He is already a champion." |