Sastre looking forward to new goal

2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre seems to have made no secret of his goals for the upcoming season. Two weeks ago, he announced his intention to defend his title at the Tour and also spoke about competing in the Giro d'Italia.

Speaking to Spanish media, Sastre said the Italian Grand Tour has appealed to him for quite a while. "The Giro is something that has been floating around in my mind for a while," he said. "It motivates me a lot." The Spaniard revealed that he would skip the Vuelta a España – in which he has reached a third place this year – to try for the podium in the Giro instead. If he succeeds, he could add the third Grand Tour podium spot to his rider palmarès.

"If I go to the Giro it will be so I can compete with the best," he said, admitting that his new team, the Cervélo TestTeam, will decide his race schedule in the first week of December. "Once you've reached the goals you set for yourself in your sports career, you start looking for new ones. I have reached a series of objectives in the Tour as well as in the Vuelta, and the Giro can be a new motivation."

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The Spaniard is also looking forward to competing against Lance Armstrong and his Astana armada, which could include the likes of Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer and Yaroslav Popovych. Sastre said that it was the first Corsa Rosa for Armstrong, while he has already participated in the race three times. "This could be my advantage," he said.

In any case, Sastre expressed great confidence in his team, a "young, consistent and competitive squad," before admitting that he had problems with his former team CSC Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis in the past. "My phone is open to anyone," he said, revealing that Riis had not congratulated him for his third place in the Vuelta last September.