Carlos Sastre - Who else for the Hall of Fame?

[Psalmon]

I just finished reading the CN article on Sastre. I always have been impressed and remain in awe of his accomplishments, story and attitude.

Although the article doesn't cover it, since 2004 he has;

G T V
04 - 8th 6th
05 - 21st 2nd
06 43rd 3rd 4th
07 - 4th 2nd
08 - Won 3rd
09 3rd 17th Rest?

I don't know how many guys in the peloton (especially at 60kg!) who have done 13 grand tours in the last six years, let alone placed in the top 4 in 8 of them. Very few, if any, have ever done 3 in a year. Of the rest, in the '05 Tour and '06 Giro he raced in complete support of Ivan Basso who achieved 2nd to LA in the Tour and won the Giro respectively (a selfless sacrificing teammate). Along the way he's bagged 6 Grand Tour stage wins, some on the most spectacular "queen" stages in history like on the Bonascre in '03 (pacifier/dummy in mouth even!), last year on the Alpe, and this year on Petrano and Vesuvius in the Giro.

In the Tour over the years, Sastre rose from 10th in '02 and 9th in '03 to finally win last year. Two years he was just off the podium (TWO years because of Floyd in '06) so he missed getting his due reward. Talk about tenacity.

A Spanish rider, he has never been linked (as far as I can recall) to Puerto, or other sleezy affairs (unlike his teammate Basso).

In this year's Tour:
- He was (I heard) not allowed to wear the Yellow Jersey in Monaco,
- LA called 2008 "a bit of a joke" (something he later publicly and personally apologized for, some credit, but he still said it about the former Champion at the race)
- While Sastre remained on the perpetual defensive with the media over his apparent lack of performance THIS year (17th - that $uck$ Carlos).
- And even Velonews titled its wrapup last year "Carlito's Way: The Tour's Improbable Winner" (this after a 3rd, 4th, and a win).

Other than this year's outburst at the media, which I can understand looking at the facts, he's generally held his tongue, and quietly gone about his business with humility.

I repeat again, and regardless of who it is and how you may feel about them personally, if we don't treat the sport's Champions well, what's the point?

Please do not turn this into another "I hate Lance because..." thread, because it should be about the Positives in our sport (not The Clinic kind).

I nominate Carlos Sastre for first ballot Hall of Fame. If he were the standard, I wonder if anyone else would get in.

Carlos: Gracias a Usted por lo que han hecho por nuestro deporte. Saludos y felicidades! Usted es un gran campeón! Descansa bien.

 

[forty four]

one of my favorite riders never talks any **** about anyone very humble athlete which is somewhat rare at the top.

 

[Laszlo]

I like your post Psalmon; you put things into perspective Sastre is not an egotistical star rider, he is just a good rider who has done well.

 

[psychlist]

Definitely consistent. What does a comparison to Cadel Evans over the same period of time look like?

I've always liked Sastre but also thought of him as the guy that was always going to just miss out on winning.

I don't think any Grand Tour is a joke, but maybe there should be an asterisk by 2008 because the defending champion was not allowed top compete?

 

[hfer07]

Jens Voigt(Ger)
Stéphane Goubert (Fra)
Robbie McEwen (Aus)

 

[Ninety5rpm]

I just finished reading the CN article on Sastre. I always have been impressed and remain in awe of his accomplishments, story and attitude.

Although the article doesn't cover it, since 2004 he has;

G T V
04 - 8th 6th
05 - 21st 2nd
06 43rd 3rd 4th
07 - 4th 2nd
08 - Won 3rd
09 3rd 17th Rest?

I don't know how many guys in the peloton (especially at 60kg!) who have done 13 grand tours in the last six years, let alone placed in the top 4 in 8 of them. Very few, if any, have ever done 3 in a year. Of the rest, in the '05 Tour and '06 Giro he raced in complete support of Ivan Basso who achieved 2nd to LA in the Tour and won the Giro respectively (a selfless sacrificing teammate). Along the way he's bagged 6 Grand Tour stage wins, some on the most spectacular "queen" stages in history like on the Bonascre in '03 (pacifier/dummy in mouth even!), last year on the Alpe, and this year on Petrano and Vesuvius in the Giro.

In the Tour over the years, Sastre rose from 10th in '02 and 9th in '03 to finally win last year. Two years he was just off the podium (TWO years because of Floyd in '06) so he missed getting his due reward. Talk about tenacity.

A Spanish rider, he has never been linked (as far as I can recall) to Puerto, or other sleezy affairs (unlike his teammate Basso).

In this year's Tour:
- He was (I heard) not allowed to wear the Yellow Jersey in Monaco,
- LA called 2008 "a bit of a joke" (something he later publicly and personally apologized for, some credit, but he still said it about the former Champion at the race)
- While Sastre remained on the perpetual defensive with the media over his apparent lack of performance THIS year (17th - that $uck$ Carlos).
- And even Velonews titled its wrapup last year "Carlito's Way: The Tour's Improbable Winner" (this after a 3rd, 4th, and a win).

Other than this year's outburst at the media, which I can understand looking at the facts, he's generally held his tongue, and quietly gone about his business with humility.

I repeat again, and regardless of who it is and how you may feel about them personally, if we don't treat the sport's Champions well, what's the point?

Please do not turn this into another "I hate Lance because..." thread, because it should be about the Positives in our sport (not The Clinic kind).

I nominate Carlos Sastre for first ballot Hall of Fame. If he were the standard, I wonder if anyone else would get in.

Carlos: Gracias a Usted por lo que han hecho por nuestro deporte. Saludos y felicidades! Usted es un gran campeón! Descansa bien.

That record is evidence of this thread being in the wrong forum...

 

[CerveloFan]

I've liked Sastre for a long time. He seems talented yet humble, and can usually be counted on to make a GT interesting in the mountains. He's always struck me as more normal than other GT favourites (although I'm not willing to say clean). While calculating, he's not afraid to attack, but he suffers and loses time some days too. And while Contador's improvement as time-trialist is impressive, his dominance in both disciplines makes the GC kind of boring. 2007 and 2008 were much more exciting for yellow. So I guess I kind of like that Sastre suffers in the ITT. He certainly made the Giro more exciting.

 

[Velodrama]

Sastre comes across well in this video (IMO), and his teammates speak highly of him:

http://www.bartape.net/hdvp.aspx?id=19&q=SD720

(apologies if this been circulated previously, but I only saw it for the first time today)

 

[hfer07]

Sastre comes across well in this video (IMO), and his teammates speak highly of him:

http://www.bartape.net/hdvp.aspx?id=19&q=SD720

(apologies if this been circulated previously, but I only saw it for the first time today)

Love the video series, the team & of course, the bicycles!!

 

[skidmark]

Sastre's sporting results and consistency over the last several years have shown dedication, to be sure. Although I don't think he was the strongest in the Tour last year, his team and he played a wonderful tactical game and won. I was certainly not unhappy to see him win.

On a personal note, I saw the sign in to a stage this year, and I have to say that of the heavy media draws, or really out of anyone, Sastre was by far the most engaging. He showed up 45 minutes before the start and, after signing in, went and talked to the crowd for a good 10 minutes. No one else even came close, I saw Kirchen and Tony Martin sign autographs, but that was it. He seems like a very gracious individual.

 

[pmcg76]

Sastre's sporting results and consistency over the last several years have shown dedication, to be sure. Although I don't think he was the strongest in the Tour last year, his team and he played a wonderful tactical game and won. I was certainly not unhappy to see him win.

On a personal note, I saw the sign in to a stage this year, and I have to say that of the heavy media draws, or really out of anyone, Sastre was by far the most engaging. He showed up 45 minutes before the start and, after signing in, went and talked to the crowd for a good 10 minutes. No one else even came close, I saw Kirchen and Tony Martin sign autographs, but that was it. He seems like a very gracious individual.

From what I have heard throught the grapevine(a friend of a team-mate) Sastre is very popular and down to earth. Very consistent, who remembers when he won a Tour stage and produced his childs soother and put it in his mouth.

 

[Steampunk]

Classy guy who didn't have the best Tour, but also didn't have the best team behind him. My instinct, though, is that he must have been one of the very fastest up Verbier this year. He came from a long way back after getting caught out at the bottom...