Moral obligations
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Carlos Sastre / September '08
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I remember that when I finished the Tour, more than one journalist asked me if I was still considering racing in the Vuelta a España after my victory in the French race. This question took me rather aback at first. What would make them think that I would change my planning of the season and my sporting commitments, because I had (I won’t say simply) won the French round? Well, history and tradition is the answer, given that none of the winners of the Tour have gone on to participate in the Vuelta since the latter has taken place in September (since 1995).
It was a lot later, about half-way through the Vuelta, when I remembered that question and I then found a certain justification to the journalists’ surprise when they realised I had firmly decided to keep to my schedule. Because it is one thing to race the Tour and the Vuelta at top level, as I have done in past years, but it is a very different thing when you have won the first of these two competitions.
When the only thing you need worry about is recovering and relaxing in this short five-week period between the end of one Tour and the start of another, the challenge, although physically demanding, is manageable. But when, on top of the physical burden of training, you add the huge number of obligations (also understandable), including trips, criteriums, tributes and interviews (amongst others), as well as the physical recovery and mental concentration needed to take on a demanding race such as the Vuelta a España, things start looking very complicated.
Having said that though, I have no regrets about my decision. The suffering and critical moments form part of our work and although there have been difficult times, I think I have come out of the other side with a certain degree of dignity intact. I realise that although I started the Vuelta with enthusiasm, hope and even good physical form, it didn’t take me long to realise that I was lacking that “little spark” that I had in the Tour. That extra something that gets you through the most demanding moments. It is in just such moments when you start to realise how the tiredness you have accumulated over the whole season is starting to catch up with you. Each morning it is a little harder to get out of bed and get your shorts on, but when you sign in and feel the encouragement of all the people that want to meet you, of all the children that ask you for a photo or an autograph, you get a huge moral boost that helps you to get on your bike with renewed hopes.
Why do you need to suffer so much after winning the Tour? was the question on the lips of my close friends and relatives. The answer is very simple: I feel the need not to let down all those people who expect the best of me. And the need to accomplish my moral obligations. I owe a lot to the Vuelta and I wanted to give back a part of what it has given me by riding in this year’s competition. And I can assure you that, despite the tiredness and suffering, I have once again enjoyed doing what I do in that race. I think it was important for the Vuelta that for once, the winner of the Tour competed. And if you are there, you have to try to live up to the expectations. Whether I achieved that or not is not something for me to judge. What I can be certain of however, is that I feel satisfied with the decision I made.
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