Luis León Sánchez Clasica win in San Sebastián a boost, but enough?

Team Caisse d’Epargne’s time to find a new sponsor for next year is running out.

The French bank announced last year that it will end its six years of sponsorship with the Spanish ProTour team at the end of this year. Its announcement gave team manager Eusebio Unzué time to find a replacement, but maybe not enough.

Unzué received a boost yesterday, though. Luis León Sánchez won Spain’s biggest one-day race, the Clasica San Sebastián.

“I’m happy,” Sánchez told L’Equipe, “because it is a just reward for the team after we missed winning the team standings at the Tour de France.”

Unzué’s team finished a close second behind Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack at the Tour de France. It was a blow for Spain’s oldest team, a team that ruled the race seven times (individual classification wins with Pedro Delgado, Miguel Indurain five times, Oscar Pereiro).

Sánchez joined Caisse d’Epargne in 2007. Since 2007, he won two stages in the Tour de France and the overall victories at Paris-Nice, Vuelta a Mallorca, Tour Méditerranéen and Circuit de la Sarthe.

Yesterday, after 234 kilometres, he scored his biggest one-day race win.

“It was clear from my joy at the finish line that I really wanted this win,” he explained. “It’s nice to win a race as long and demanding as this.”

His long road in Spain (4 years with Caisse and 3 with Liberty Seguros) is now coming to an end. Next year, he will ride with Dutch team Rabobank. The team is the current home of Spaniard Oscar Freire and was the home of Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha for four years.

Sánchez’s departure and the suspension of Alejandro Valverde leaves Unzué without a top Spaniard in addition to a title sponsor. He has already brought in subsidiary sponsors to total €3 million, but needs more to continue at the top level.

Unzué can forget about signing three-time Tour winner, Alberto Contador, who will likely ride for Bjarne Riis and costs too much. His other option – should a title sponsor come along after Sánchez’s win – is Spain’s Samuel Sánchez.

Samuel Sánchez spent the last 11 years with Euskaltel-Euskadi. This year he finished fourth at the Tour de France and is ready to leave with the teams sponsorship up in the air.