Carlos Sastre's slap in the face of Tadej Pogacar: "He rides too aggressively and spends energy unnecessarily. He wants to win too much"

Carlos Sastre, the winner of the 2008 Tour de France, has given an interesting interview to Flashscore.es in which he reviews the Tour de France he won and also talked about cycling today and riders like Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Sepp Kuss (with whom he compares himself) or Primoz Roglic.

CARLOS SASTRE IN 2023.

"I'm trying to enjoy life as much as possible. I have a small bike store here in Avila, an hour's drive from Madrid. I've lived here almost all my life and my parents are from here. It's a quiet life, I enjoy every bike ride."

QUIET LEGACY DESPITE WINNING A TOUR DE FRANCE.

"I'm happy with my accomplishments, so I don't really care if people talk about me a lot or not. I'm a person who lives in the present and looks to the future. The past is nice, but I don't live in the past. I won the Tour in 2008 and it's always nice to remember that. But that's just for the memories and nothing else."

"When I had the opportunity, I was prepared. Before I started the Tour I knew the race very well, I knew my rivals very well. And I had a very strong team that supported me from start to finish. The manager, Bjarne Riis, knew I was ready to do something special this year."

STARS TODAY.

"It's difficult to compare. Pogacar and Vingegaard are very young riders. In my time we were winning Grand Tours at 33 years old, which is a difference of almost 10 years. Today, young riders are very strong and well prepared for competition. But I think they make too many mistakes during races because they lack experience. That is perhaps the big difference with us.

Before, it was a bit calmer, we waited for the perfect moment to launch an attack. Pogacar, for example, is spectacular, but maybe sometimes he rides too aggressively and spends energy unnecessarily. He wants to win too much. But it's great for the spectators.

SELF COMPARED WITH SEPP KUSS.

"I would compare myself to Sepp Kuss. If you look at Pogacar or Vingegaard, they are cyclists capable of winning everything. I'm not like that. Kuss is a good climber, he's not so bad in the time trial and he does well in the general classification.

Now that he has won the Vuelta a España, everyone will say that Roglic and Vingegaard helped him win. I say no. It was Kuss who suffered every day, who did everything he could and overcame the mountains. And he won the Vuelta. Of course, the other two supported him, but he has almost always supported them in recent years."

OPINION ON PRIMOZ ROGLIC.

"Roglic has already tried several times in the Tour. In the last Vuelta and in the Giro he showed that he still has a lot of power in his legs. It will be difficult, because Pogacar and Vingegaard are two strong riders who are preparing excellently for the Tour and have made the difference recently. But it would be nice if Roglic could get back to his best form and compete for the win."