28-Jul-2008: It was a beautiful day in Paris on Sunday, and a fitting end of the Tour for Team CSC-Saxo Bank, whose incredible teamwork all three weeks in France culminated not only in the overall victory for Carlos Sastre, but also the white jersey for Andy Schleck and the overall Team Classification victory.
I’ve waited seven years for CSC to win the TdF. It was incredible to watch the well timed teamwork of CSC methodically take over the front of the peloton and execute their tactics. I’m not a big sports fan, and I never really understood what it’s like to watch your favorite team go to the Superbowl or the World Series until now. In previous years CSC never had any real chance of winning the TdF, so I never really took much interest. I always rooted for Cancellara in the TT and hoped Voigt would do an awesome breakaway. This year was agonizing watching how close the final TT was on stage 20. CSC could have easily lost all three awards in a single day, and on paper they were set to lose the yellow jersey. All the press said Sastre was going to lose that day, and the thought of coming this close and blowing was almost too much for me to watch. But the best wins are always the ones that come from behind and defy the odds.