Education
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.
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.
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. Born in Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines, Casar turned professional in 2000 after riding for Jean Floch-Mantes as an amateur. 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.
However, Astarloza was found after the Tour to have tested positive for EPO before the race had started. Casar later finished 11th overall that year.
The breakaway was down to only four units in the descent of the colonel, and got caught in the final kilometer by Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, who had escaped from the main group on the Madeleine. He tried to escape on a slope near the end, but was caught by four riders.
On 6 September 2013, Casar announced his retirement from cycling.
Grand Tour general classification results timeline.
He also won the one-day race Paris–Camembert in 2011. 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. Stage 16 was originally won by Mikel Astarloza. The organisers stripped him of the stage win and Casar became the official stage winner. 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 Colonel de la Madeleine. Casar won the uphill sprint to take the prestigious victory in one of the toughest stages of that year"s Tour. In 2011, he won the Paris–Camembert classic, again after being part of a long breakaway. He nonetheless prevailed in the sprint against these four, taking the win on the roads he trained on in his youth.
