In our pre-Vuelta a Espana 2010 interview Roadcycling.com talks with 2008 Tour de France Champion Carlos Sastre about his goals for the 2010 Vuelta a Espana, his successes as a rider so far, the great effect of riding three Grand Tours in the same year, and his future move to Team Geox.

At the age of 35, Carlos Sastre remains a man of challenges. The winner of the 2008 Tour de France will line up at the start of the 2010 Vuelta a Espana in Sevilla on Saturday. That will be his third Grand Tour this year after the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. He already completed all three Grand Tours in 2006 and came out with stage wins everywhere: the team time trial of the Giro in Cremona, stage 18 of the Tour de France in Morzine (following Floyd Landis' disqualification) and the Team Time Trial of the Vuelta in Malaga. He'll captain the Cervelo TestTeam for the last time before transferring to Team Geox. Sastre's one of the hottest favourites alongside Denis Menchov (Team Rabobank) and Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank).

Sastre's statistics in the Grand Tours are impressive: since 2000, he rode 22 of them and pulled out only once, he finished 14 times in the top ten and won stages in France, Italy and Spain. At the Vuelta, he has won a team time trial but he's yet to win an individual stage.

"After doing it in 2006, I felt so tired that I promised to myself to never ride three Grand Tours the same year again," Sastre recalls. "I finished third at the Tour de France and fourth at the Vuelta that year. This year, except at the Tour de France, my presence in the line-up was necessary for my team to get a start. Therefore I'll be doing the three Grand Tours again, but I planned to race [as little as possible] before the Giro for handling these sixty days of racing properly."

Carlos Sastre started the 2010 Giro d'Italia with only eight days of racing in his legs. He managed to finish eighth at the Giro, but bad crashes caused a limiting hernia. He got back on time for starting the Tour de France in Rotterdam but he suffered like Hell in July. He wasn't able to follow the best climbers in the mountains and finished 20th overall.

Carlos Sastre (Cervelo TestTeam). Photo copyright Fotoreporter Sirotti.

He's more enthusiastic about starting in the Vuelta. He finished the race six times in the top ten, twice in second position (in 2005 and 2007) and third in 2008, the last time he took part. He remains ambitious and hopes to win the overall classification.

"Since the Tour de France, I've finished third at the Clasica San Sebastian and I took part in a fun ride at El Barraco to pay tribute to my brother in law José Maria Jimenez who died in 2003," Sastre explained and added "I've trained a lot and I've gone and reconnoitre the uphill finish of Bola del Mondo where the second last stage will end. It's a very hard climb, and a long one as well (more than twenty kilometers). We'll start at sea level to reach 2.447 meters altitude and the average gradient is 12%. I don't know what will happen there but it's an ideal conclusion for the event."

Sastre will enjoy a total of six uphill finishes in the 2010 Vuelta a Espana. "I've taken an important decision to leave Cervelo TestTeam for Team Geox next year," Sastre commented and added "But it doesn't change my motivation. I want to fight for victory and I hope my team-mates will do too."

Sastre be accompanied in the 2010 Tour of Spain by his faithful helper Xavier Tondo who won a stage at Paris-Nice and at the Volta Catalunya in March, veteran Iñigo Cuesta who will be the oldest contender at the age of 41, Oscar Pujol, Xavier Florencio, Stefan Denifl and Philip Deignan who won stage 18 to Avilà in last year's Vuelta. Two sprinters, Norwegian powerhouse Thor Hushovd and Theo Bos, will complete Cervélo TestTeam's roster for the Spanish Tour.