Sandy Casar

Sandy Casar (born 2 February 1979) is a French former professional racing cyclist, who competed as a professional between 2000 and 2013, all for the Française des Jeux team.[1] His greatest results have been winning three stages of the Tour de France, as well the overall classification of the Route du Sud in 2005. He also won the one-day race Paris–Camembert in 2011.

Sandy Casar
Casar at the 2012 Giro d'Italia
Personal information
Full nameSandy Casar
Born (1979-02-02) 2 February 1979
Mantes-la-Jolie, France
Height1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight70 kg (154 lb)
Team information
Current teamRetired
DisciplineRoad
RoleRider
Rider typeBreakaway Specialist
Professional team
2000–2013Française des Jeux
Major wins
Tour de France, 3 stages
Route du Sud (2005)
Paris–Camembert (2011)

Career

Born in Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines, Casar turned professional in 2000 after riding for Jean Floch-Mantes as an amateur. Casar's talent was revealed in Paris–Nice 2002, which he finished second at 23 years old. He finished 13th in the 2003 Giro d'Italia, in front of climber Marco Pantani. He had his biggest win in a stage of the 2003 Tour de Suisse. He then finished 16th in the 2004 Tour de France, and sixth in the 2006 Giro d'Italia, 25 minutes behind winner Ivan Basso. Casar also won the Route du Sud in 2005.

On 27 July 2007, he won his first Tour de France stage, beating Laurent Lefevre, Axel Merckx and Michael Boogerd in a sprint after a collision with a dog earlier in the day. He then finished 14th overall in the 2008 Tour de France.

In 2009, Casar finished second in the 16th stage of the 2009 Tour de France. Stage 16 was originally won by Mikel Astarloza. However, Astarloza was found after the Tour to have tested positive for EPO before the race had started.[2] The organisers stripped him of the stage win and Casar became the official stage winner.[3] Casar later finished 11th overall that year.

In 2010, Casar won the stage 9 of the 2010 Tour de France, after being part of a long breakaway that went over numerous categorized climb, including the Col de la Madeleine. The breakaway was down to only four units in the descent of the col, and got caught in the final kilometer by Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, who had escaped from the main group on the Madeleine. Casar won the uphill sprint to take the prestigious victory in one of the toughest stages of that year's Tour.[4] In 2011, he won the Paris–Camembert classic, again after being part of a long breakaway. He tried to escape on a slope near the end, but was caught by four riders. He nonetheless prevailed in the sprint against these four, taking the win on the roads he trained on in his youth.[5]

On 6 September 2013, Casar announced his retirement from cycling.[6][7]

Career achievements

Major results
2000
5th Overall Tour Down Under
2001
7th Trophée des Grimpeurs
8th Tour du Haut Var
2002
1st Stage 4 Circuit Franco-Belge
2nd Overall Paris–Nice
1st Young Rider Classification
3rd Paris–Camembert Lepetit
10th Trophée des Grimpeurs
2003
1st Stage 4 Tour de Suisse
2nd GP Le Télégramme
4th Paris–Camembert Lepetit
7th Route Adélie de Vitré
2004
1st Stage 2 Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne
2nd Overall Route du Sud
3rd Duo Normand (with Carlos Da Cruz)
4th Paris–Camembert Lepetit
8th Overall Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon
8th Overall Circuit de la Sarthe
2005
1st Overall Route du Sud
3rd Paris–Camembert Lepetit
5th Grand Prix d'Ouverture La Marseillaise
6th Overall GP Internacional Paredes Rota dos Móveis
2006
5th Overall Route du Sud
6th Overall Giro d'Italia
2007
1st Stage 18 Tour de France
2008
3rd Polynormande
6th Overall Tour de Romandie
8th Overall Vuelta al País Vasco
2009
1st Stage 16 Tour de France
2010
1st Stage 9 Tour de France
6th Overall Vuelta al País Vasco
2011
1st Paris–Camembert
3rd Tour du Finistère
5th Overall Route du Sud
2012
4th Overall Tour of Oman

Grand Tour general classification results timeline
Grand Tour 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Giro d'Italia — 13 — 81 6 — — — — — 25 DNF
Tour de France 83 111 16 29 69 71 13 10 25 27 22 —
Vuelta a España — — — — — — 19 DNF — — — —

References
  1. "FDJ – FRA". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  2. "Astarloza tests positive for EPO, UCI says". Velo News. Archived from the original on 2009-08-17. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  3. Augendre, Jacques (2010). "Guide Historique, Part 4" (PDF) (in French). Amaury Sport Organisation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  4. "Sandy Casar wins stage 9". RoadCC. 2011 ROADCYCLING.COM. 13 July 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  5. Bjorn Haake (13 April 2011). "Casar wins Paris-Camembert". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  6. "Cyclisme: Sandy Casar dit stop". Reuters France. 6 September 2013.
  7. "Sandy Casar retires". cyclingnews. 6 September 2013.
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