Lance Armstrong won seven consecutive titles in the Tour de France between 1999 and 2005 before retiring for the first time. Three years later, in 2008, Carlos Sastre stood out in the Grande Boucle, surpassing the Schleck brothers, Franck and Andy, with an aggressive attack on Alpe d’Huez, securing the victory in the Tour.
Armstrong made his return to professional cycling in 2009, motivated, in his own words, by the fact that cyclists like Sastre, “a package,” had won in Paris. However, he couldn’t reclaim his previous victories after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) concluded investigations and the subsequent stripping of all his titles. Carlos Sastre, on the other hand, ended his career with a Tour title.
In a recent interview with the Spanish newspaper Relevo, Carlos Sastre discusses Lance Armstrong’s statements:
“I’m glad that Armstrong has taken me into consideration, that such an important person is concerned about a poor bike shop owner who is here, the truth is that it makes me happy, that there is someone who remembers.
“Each one is where we deserve to be, I don’t care about what he says, I don’t mind, when you have the certainty of how you achieved things in your life, what the rest of the world says about you doesn’t matter. It’s a world full of obstacles that you have to overcome day after day. Armstrong was nothing more than an obstacle in my life.”