SCOTT SIMON, host:
Carlos Sastre put himself in a commanding position to win the Tour de France today. Mr. Sastre, who's from Spain, had a spectacular 53-kilometer time trial today and is expected to take a victory lap tomorrow down the Champs-Elysees. James Startt, European correspondent for Bicycling Magazine, joins us. James, thanks very much for being back with us.
Mr. JAMES STARTT (European Correspondent, Bicycling Magazine): Thank you for having me.
SIMON: It was supposed to be a close finish potentially today. What happened?
Mr. STARTT: Well, Carlos, I think, rode the race of his life. And Cadel did not have a particularly good day when you look back.
SIMON: Cadel Evans, the Australian, didn't have a good day.
Mr. STARTT: No, he did not. No. When you really look at his pedal stroke and stuff, he was not real fluid. He was not, as we say, on top of his gears. He seemed to be struggling a little bit to maintain momentum, and Sastre was very fluid and looked great the whole time.
SIMON: Let's ask about where the Americans finished.
Mr. STARTT: Christian Vande Velde had a great ride. And I believe - I haven't seen all the results yet, but it looks like he moved up to fifth. He had just a tremendous ride, one of the best time trials. And it's just too bad that he had that one really bad day in the Alps where he lost four minutes. Otherwise,he would have been right there for the victory.
SIMON: So Carlos Sastre is expected to win the race tomorrow, unless he falls over on his face.
Mr. STARTT: Yeah. I mean, it's just - tomorrow's stage is really just a victory promenade at this point. I mean, if there was a couple of seconds, maybe there's something somebody could do, but not now, no. He's definitely won the race, and he'll have time to enjoy it up and down the Champs-Elysees tomorrow.
SIMON: Obviously, over the past few years doping has been such a concern and such a contentious issue. Assuming everything stays clean this year, has this been a good race for the sport?
Mr. STARTT: Yeah, I think so. The suspense was amazing all the way to the very end. Anytime that happens, I think it's really great for the sport. Some people prefer the big mega champions. I think a close race between lesser-known riders is equally interesting. Nobody - none of the experts knew it was going to happen until Carlos crossed the line today, and that's great.
SIMON: Well, what's the - looking back on it now, what's the leg of the race that surprised you the most, or affected you the most?
Mr. STARTT: I would say the one that impressed me the most was the stage up the Alps where CSC, Sastre's team, really used all the weapons in their artillery. They had the strongest team in the race, although everybody said they didn't have the strongest rider. Everybody expected that to be Evans. Evans clearly did not have the strongest team. Some of the people that were hired to ride with him in the mountains, like Yaroslav Popovych who was on Discovery (unintelligible) was clearly not at his level this year.
So Evans found himself consistently isolated. And CSC really used their numbers that day. Nobody was really looking at Sastre. Everybody was looking at Frank Schleck, his teammate, who at that point was in the yellow jersey. And then they sent Carlos up the road, and Cadel was sort of cornered. That was just a really tremendous display of teamwork and tactics.
SIMON: And you think the sport can build on the success of this year's Tour?
Mr. STARTT: I would hope so. You know, I think, like I said earlier this morning, you know, Sastre and Evans, they're kind of no-frills riders, but they're consistent, they're always there. They're not the most charismatic, star-like riders, but they make no waves. And that's really what we needed this year.
SIMON: James Startt, who's European correspondent for Bicycling Magazine, thanks so much.
Mr. STARTT: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
