“I consider it anecdotal to be the best Spaniard of the Tour,” said the Muleño man, who believes in Mikel Landa’s options for the Vuelta a España.
The Muleño Luis León Sánchez, Luisle for everyone in the pack, has been eager all his life and is heading for 39 years with a role he never had and never wanted: that of leader. The experienced cyclist from Muleño, hardened in a thousand battles, was the best Spaniard in the general classification of the Tour de France (14th) and was also the best in the final time trial of the French Tour. He finished 21st in the time trial, 3 minutes behind the winner Van Aert. Overall, he finished 50 minutes behind Vingegaard.
“As the best Spaniard of the Tour, I see it as something anecdotal. In the beginning we were few, then Covid victims and a series of circumstances came together. I’ve always tried to make a career, get into breakaways and win a stage. I was close, but I couldn’t,” said the man from Muleño, who had to take all the stripes in the Bahrain team after the early withdrawal of his leader, Australian Jack Haig.
In an interview with ‘El País’ he tells what happened on the arrival in Megève, in the 10th stage. The muleño came in third at the finish after fighting for the win until the last meters. He gave in to the Danish Magnus Cort Nielsen and the Australian Nick Schultz. “It was an arrival I knew well, but they made me nervous from the team car and I started from far away,” he laments. “It was impossible for me to go well,” he admits.
“The day Haig retired, they told me to run,” said the Mula cyclist, brother of footballer Pedro León, recently signed by Real Murcia. Luisle ran his first Tour 17 years ago, Armstrong’s seventh was erased forever after the American confessed to doping. The muleño of the few Spanish cyclists of the time who survived the turbulent tales of doping. And now, so many years later, he doesn’t want any more trouble.
That’s why it bothered him so much when, on the eve of the start of this Tour, in Copenhagen, a group of police officers entered his room at dawn to ask for his room and that of the rest of his teammates, assistants and technicians from Bahrain, in search of doping substances. . “It was very unpleasant. Something you don’t expect, something I don’t have to swallow with the years I’ve been in this. And nobody from the team explains what’s happening. I don’t know, I have here another contract for one year, but maybe I’ll change teams. I’ll have to think about it carefully,” said Luisle in the aforementioned interview.
The Muleño is already thinking of the Vuelta a España, which starts on August 19 in Utrecht. «I have to rest a lot because it has been a very tough and very fast Tour. I’ve been on many outings and that wears me out. Breaking out is better than staying in the pack. It gives meaning to the race. You feel like a cyclist. You seek it, you find it, you surrender, you analyze, you move, you do something and you even try to play your cards to win. You feel good, but in the long run it is clear that fatigue takes its toll,” says the Mula cyclist.
Looking ahead to the Vuelta, his first role will be to work for Bahrain leader Mikel Landa, of Vitoria. “We are going to see what we can do with Mikel Landa and we are confident that we can be well positioned in the general classification with him,” indicates a Luisle asking for “patience” from Spanish fans who claim results that are not there. come. “A good generation of young people is coming and we have to give them time and confidence for the future,” the man from Muleño recalled.
For the first time since 1981, Spanish cycling has not put a single rider in the ‘top 10’ of the Tour. After the withdrawal of Enric Mas, who finished tenth, Luis León Sánchez finished best, 14th. It was his second best finish in the French round since he finished tenth in 2010. The man from Muleño has won up to four stages in the Tour, although the last one was ten years ago.
In 1982 Juan Fernández finished tenth, 17 minutes and 19 seconds behind Bernard Hinault. With that he started a series that was only broken in 1998 by the ‘Festina case’ and the abandonment of all Spanish cyclists. Four decades later, Spanish cycling returns to the place it had in 1981. Bad thing.
Source: La Verdad
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