Spanish champion doesn’t want to “mortgage entire season on one day”
For Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Samuel Sánchez, 2012 is an important year, not least because it will see him defend his Olympic title in the London road race. The Asturian is not hanging too many hopes on the outcome of that race though, according to La Marca, or of retaining his status as “Olympic champion”; the race, which is widely predicted to finish in a sprint, is just one day in a long season, and he feels it’s too risky to focus too much on.
In an interview on Spanish TV’s Teledeporte, Sánchez described his Olympic gold winning day as “unforgettable, and historic”.
“I was so emotional and I couldn’t hold it,” he explained. “The entire team and I knew that we had ridden a great race. I finished it off, but without the help of my teammates I could not have won.
“It was the best way to start the Olympic Games,” he added. “The first medal for Spain.”
When the time came for the Spanish rider to be presented his medal he described his feelings, saying he found it “impossible not to cry” as the knowledge of his achievement sunk in.
“I think that the occasion merited it,” he said. “When I saw the podium, the anthem, you start to remember your loved ones, your teammates… To touch Olympus, is not something you can express in words, but with emotions as I did.”
The road races were good for the Spanish men, with Sánchez’ gold in the time trial almost repeated four days later.
“In the time trial we almost got a double victory, with [Alberto Contador] fourth and [Sánchez himself] sixth,” he said. “After the hangover of the gold three days earlier, because we were with the best, and we didn’t get to ride the time trial in the best conditions. Perhaps with the handicap of the wind, heavy riders like Cancellara were favoured. When I saw the amazing time of Alberto Contador, I thought we’d done the road and time trial double.”
Despite his memories of the euphoria of Beijing though, Sánchez is trying not to put too much emphasis on his defence. In July this year he took the prestigious Tour de France stage to Luz-Ardiden – as well as two second places on the Plateau de Beille and Alpe d’Huez – and secured the polka-dot mountains jersey; this is something that he feels he should concentrate on repeating, rather than the race in London.
“The Olympics are one day,” he said. “You can’t mortgage it all one day. If you crash, it’s a disaster. When I’ve stood up on the Champs Elysées podium as winner of the mountains jersey and got something.
“For a cyclist, the Tour is the maximum, the competition par excellence,” he explained. “At the Olympics you go beyond sport, defending the colours of your country. For a cyclist, both the Olympics and the Tour are awesome.”
The Olympic race itself is almost universally predicted to finish in a sprint, with Great Britain’s new World champion Mark Cavendish as the outstanding favourite. The Manxman won a test event back in August – the London Surrey Cycle Classic – but that race only took in the Box Hill circuit twice, instead of the seven times it will do it next year.
“We will see how it goes in the final laps,” he said. “The Olympic test event was not the entire circuit. If there is little geographical difficulty, Cavendish does not happen. We think that [Bradley] Wiggins will be one of the favourites.”
One of the things that won the World championships for Cavendish in Copenhagen, Denmark, in September was the way that the Great Britain team seized control of the peloton in the closing laps. With much smaller teams in the Olympic Games, it’s doubtful that any one nation will be able to ride in a similarly dominant way.
“The difference between the Olympics and the World championships is that you only have five riders, with two also doing the time trial,” said Sánchez. “In Beijing [Spanish national coach] Paco Antequera had a few options for a medal; in London it will be more complicated because the time trial is flat.
“It will be necessary to take riders that are in form,” he added, “although the final decision will be down to the selectors.”