maltiv said:I've pointed this out a million times, but people never seem to stop with this argument.
Sastre did not collapse completely after his TDF title...he followed up by being on the podium in the two next GT's he did (Vuelta 2008, Giro 2009 + 2 stages). So he was on the podium for three consecutive GT's...I don't know if anyone else has managed that? Of course, he wasn't himself in the TDF 2009, but come on, that was his 4th grand tour in a row, no one would be able to pull that off. The next year age started catching up with him (8th Giro, 20th TDF, 8th Vuelta), which is only natural for a clean athlete.
When Riis said something like "Sastre doesn't take his training seriously enough and could be a much better rider" one could wonder whether that statement actually was concerning Sastre's denial to take anything.
Sastre was a trendsetter.
Win one TdF, stay in shape for a couple more months to not look suspicious and cash in your bonusses, and then jump off the PED ship. Greedy guys like Contador didn't spot the trend and were punished for it. But Evans was a good student of Sastre's and I think we wont see much of Wiggins next year either (but I might be wrong as far as wiggo is concerned).