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Sandy Casar
	Casar at the 2012 Giro d'Italia
Personal information
Full name	Sandy Casar
Born	2 February 1979 (age 45); Mantes-la-Jolie, France
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Breakaway Specialist
Professional team
2000–2013	Française des Jeux
Major wins
	Tour de France, 3 stages; Route du Sud (2005); Paris–Camembert (2011)

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.

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 Lefèvre, 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

^ "FDJ – FRA". UCI World Tour. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
^ "Astarloza tests positive for EPO, UCI says". Velo News. Archived from the original on 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
^ 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.
^ "Sandy Casar wins stage 9". RoadCC. 2011 ROADCYCLING.COM. 13 July 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
^ Bjorn Haake (13 April 2011). "Casar wins Paris–Camembert". VeloNation. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
^ "Cyclisme: Sandy Casar dit stop". Reuters France. 6 September 2013. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014.
^ "Sandy Casar retires". cyclingnews. 6 September 2013.