Sastre says no to three Grand Tours

Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) will not repeat the feat of 2006, riding and finishing all three grand tours. The Spaniard, like teammate Giovanni Lombardi in 2005, rode the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and the Vuelta a España; a total of nine weeks of racing.

But, according to Spanish paper Marca, the 31 year-old Spaniard will focus on only one grand tour in 2007. "I am thinking of another grand tour but I don't want to race three tours next season."

Commenting on the 2006, Sastre said that the season "was very important, above all on a personal level." Sastre helped teammate Ivan Basso win the Giro d'Italia, then pushed on in the Tour when his captain was kicked out, finishing a high fourth, and capped off the season with another fourth in the Vuelta.

Sastre points to the breaks in between the tours and family time as the way in which he dealt with the three races. "[It was] being able to pass time at home with the family."

Sastre will end his season this weekend in Spain. The rider from Madrid will line up in the Escalada a Montjuic on Sunday.