Sastre: A Giro for climbers

Spaniard Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam) will wait for Vuelta a España route announcement before making his 2010 plans. He saw the second of three Grand Tours, the 2010 Giro d'Italia, presented Saturday in Milano.

"It's a Giro that will benefit the climbers," said Sastre. "It will be a lot harder than this year, with eight stages exceeding 200 kilometres and a marathon 256-kilometre stage."

The 2010 Giro d'Italia, May 8 to 30, ends with a week of climbing stages. Organiser RCS Sport unveiled a route that will take the riders up the Zoncolan, Plan de Corones, Mortirolo and Gavia climbs.

Sastre won the 2008 Tour de France and finished third at that year's Vuelta a España. This year, he finished third at the Giro d'Italia and won the Monte Petrano and Vesuvio mountain stages. He finished in 17th place overall at the Tour de France.

"Now I need to know about the Vuelta a España route to decide what I want to do next season," continued Sastre.

Race organiser Unipublic will present the 2010 Vuelta a España route in Seville on December 16.

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