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by Justin Davis

CAP D’AGDE, France, July 8, 2009 (AFP) – Reigning Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre has put a positive spin on Cervelo’s chances of defending his yellow jersey, claiming they would now employ a “happy, relaxed” approach.

Sastre was one of several Tour contenders who on Tuesday’s team time trial lost time to the Astana team of Lance Armstrong, who is now second overall just 0.22secs behind race leader Fabian Cancellara.

Sastre’s team finished a respectable eighth in the fourth stage race against the clock and, compared to fellow challengers Cadel Evans and Denis Menchov, Sastre’s Cervelo team managed to limit their losses.

Ahead of three mountain stages in the Pyrenees beginning Friday, the pressure is mounting on Sastre to claw back some of the time on the dominant Astana team.

But while the Spaniard acknowledges the strength of Astana, he is happy to sit back and wait for his chances.

“We lost some time yesterday but it’s not a catastophe, or the end of the world,” Sastre, who also paid tribute to the performance of his team, told AFP.

“We did a nice job in the team time trial, I’m really happy with my teammates.

“We’re here to fight, we’re happy to be in the Tour de France. We’ve got no injuries, and so there’s no problems.

“I’m just want to do my job, as I do every day. I don’t know if I can win the Tour de France, I just want to be happy on my bike.

“The most important thing is to be healthy and be ready. Calm and relaxed.”

Recent Tour of Italy winner Denis Menchov is now in 72nd place at a massive
3:59 behind Armstrong while Evans, the runner-up the past two years, is 2:59 off the pace.

However, Sastre, who is 2:44 behind, said that given the strength of Astana, which also includes 2007 Tour champion Alberto Contador, he was not surprised seeing them take command of the race was not so surprising.

“I think Astana has a strong team, and they have a lot of experience, as they showed yesterday. For them it (team time trial) was good, for me it was not too bad while for others it’s worse,” he added.

Sastre comes to the Tour having won two mountain stages at the Giro d’Italia last month, and, despite his refusal to get too worked up, will be one to watch over the coming days.

The first summit finish of the race is on Friday’s seventh stage from Barcelona to Arcalis in Andorra, a climb that both Contador, and Sastre, know well.

“We’ve done a lot of climbs in the Pyrenees in the Tour de France,” Sastre added.

“And I know Arcalis well. I finished second in a time trial there once. In total I’ve raced it four or five times.”

Photo by: CorVos Pro