Cycling News Flash, September 5, 2008
Edited by Hedwig Kröner
Sastre signs with Cervélo Test Team
2008 Tour de France winner Carlos
Sastre is changing teams next year
Photo ©: AFP
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After weeks of rumours and speculation, Team CSC-Saxo Bank's Carlos Sastre
has finally announced that he is leaving the Danish squad and joining
new outfit Cervélo Test
Team as of next season. The 2008 Tour de France winner made the news
official on his personal website, www.carlossastre.com, on Thursday.
He will be holding a press conference on the Vuelta a España rest day
on Friday.
Sastre, who had been linked to Oleg Tinkov's new Katusha team, finally
opted to sign with the Canadian bike manufacturer because "it is a new
project which fits very well with my way of being. It offers the opportunity
to open frontiers and collaborate more actively with our sponsors and
their clients. At the same time, we can contribute more efficiently to
improving the technology of our materials."
The Cervélo Test Team, whose name may change before the 2009 season
as the company is seeking another title sponsor, will serve as a proving
ground for product development of five bike industry leaders, namely Cervélo,
Zipp, Speedplay, Vittoria and 3T, as well as providing race results under
a Professional Continental license.
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"Race performance is only one component of Cervélo TestTeam," said Cervélo
co-founder Gerard Vroomen. "Our riders will also be involved in field-testing
and providing technical feedback. In addition they will participate in
activities with our customers, making them more accessible to cycling
fans."
Sastre thanked his former Team CSC-Saxo Bank and its manager Bjarne
Riis for "seven unforgettable years", while at the same time explaining
that he wanted to "look ahead into the future to find those motivations
which will help me continue enjoying the bike. This is the main reason
why I chose the Cervélo Test Team project. With it, a new and exciting
road opens up to me that gives me new objectives for the remainder of
my career."
Sastre is expected to reveal more about his choice in a press conference
in Lleida, Spain, on Friday evening.
Sunderland also leaving to Cervélo
Along with Sastre, team CSC-Saxo Bank directeur sportif Scott Sunderland
is also leaving the Danish squad at the end of this season to become sports
manager at the new Team Cervélo, he announced Friday.
The Australian said that he had very much enjoyed his four years at
CSC, but that it was time to "pursue a further growth in my career," adding,
"I have been blessed, or maybe cursed - it's how you look at it, with
a restless and adventurous nature and especially since our Tour de France
victory, I have felt an increasing urge to move on to different challenges,
get off the beaten track once again."
With the new team, Sunderland said, "The companies supporting this project
have invited me to help develop a thriving team out of the group of both
prominent and younger riders and skilled staff from 2009 onward."
"I hope to accomplish just that. Team Cervélo will have no stress concerning
actual race results in its first season, that's only a realistic starting
point, but knowing the ambitious temperament of all the people involved
in this team; there won't be any economising on efforts. "
He thanked CSC-Saxo Bank and Riis for the opportunities they had given
him, saying, "I won't just be leaving fantastic colleagues but mostly
very good friends behind at Team CSC-Saxo Bank."
Sunderland is also a Cyclingnews diarist. The full text of his
statement will be online soon.
Sastre ended weeks of conjecture Friday morning when he announced that
he was joining Team Cervélo. Including him, there are 11 CSC riders whose
contracts with the Danish team the end of this season, raising the possibility
that one or more of them might also join Cervélo.
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(All rights reserved/Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited 2008)
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