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by Justin Davis

LIMOGES, France, July 13, 2009 (AFP) – Defending yellow jersey champion Carlos Sastre said Monday he would be choosing his moments carefully when the Tour de France moves up a gear next week in the Alps.

“Astana are the strongest team in the race at the moment, and when it comes to the Alps next week it is up to us (rivals) to react to whatever they decide to do,” Sastre said Monday on the race’s first rest day.

After the first nine of 21 stages the Astana team of Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong have forged significant advantages over their rivals and will go into the Alps next week as the team to beat.

Italian Rinaldo Nocentini of the AG2R team will wear the race leader’s yellow jersey when racing resumes on Tuesday’s 10th stage although Contador is only 6secs behind and Armstrong 8 adrift.

The deficits of Astana’s direct rivals range from the 1:49 of Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck, of Saxo Bank, to the 3:07 held by two-time runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia, who rides for Silence.

Sastre, who after the penultimate stage time trial last year held off Evans to grab his first victory on the race, is currently 16th at 2:52.

Having come through three Pyrenees mountain stages relatively unscathed, Sastre admitted that with only one summit finish last week, there was little opportunity to attack.

“The terrain hasn’t really been perfect for attacking on,” he added.

“I wanted to do something at Arcalis (on the seventh stage) but there was a headwind. It was too difficult.”

It was at Arcalis on Friday that Contador attacked late in the stage to take 19secs off his own teammate Armstrong, leapfrogging the American into second place.

The next day Evans’ produced what was termed by some as a desperate attack on the climb to the summit of Envalira, 150km from the finish line, before being reeled in by a peloton being driven by Astana.

With an individual time trial and a total of five climbing stages still left, the race to finish first in Paris is only just beginning.

Armstrong, who won the race a record seven times consecutively, said
Sunday: “Maybe we’re halfway through the race, but as far as selection (elimination), we’re only 25 percent done.”

Sastre, a climber who, when pushed, can also time trial, suggested that when he attacks, he wants to make it count: “They don’t pay me to put on a show.”