Samuel Sanchez likely to race Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España in 2013
After a disappointing Tour de France appearance in the current season, Samuel Sanchez has decided to skip the French race from his 2013 racing schedule and will ride the other two Grand Tours instead.
The cyclist crashed during the French Grand Tour final 60 kilometres of the stage 8 and broke his left shoulder blade and fractured a finger.
The Spaniard has not yet confirmed his final plans for the season ahead but believes that he will ride the first and the third Grand Tours of the year, skipping the French race.
“Man, how weird would that be not to race [at the Tour de France. Now, Wiggins, for example, it is not racing, and he's the current winner. We see that cycling is changing,”], the Spaniard told biciciclismo.
Despite the crash, Sanchez managed to secure enough victories to start the new season confidently.
His first win came during the Tour of the Basque Country where he occupied an overall victory, two stages and the point’s classifications.
The 34-year-old achieved the second overall position at the Volta a Catalunya along with a stage 6 win at the race.
He finished second at the Giro di Lombardia, seventh at the Amstel Gold Race and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2012.
The cyclist holds as many as 12 Grand Tour appearances under his belt, including one Giro d’Italia, six Tour de France and five Vuelta a Espana participations to his credit.
Sanchez has not fully recovered and a major accident at the Tour du Poitou-Charentes restricted him from riding the 2012 London Olympics.
"I think the best thing would have been to have broken it because if you have a broken collarbone you operate, you put the plate in and three days later you are like new," he cited.
"Look at Rojas who went to the Olympics. I, however, had a very painful dislocation and mentally it was hard. But cycling is. You can go and then you say 'I am human'".
The Spaniard marked his professional crusade with Team Euskaltel-Euskadi in 2000 and has been really loyal with the team throughout his career.
Samuel is all set to start his 14th consecutive season with the team after he pledged three more years with the team just recently.
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