Alonso trains with cycling’s Sastre

Fernando Alonso

(GMM) Fernando Alonso this week took part in a full training ride of the team headed by 2008 Tour de France winner and fellow Spaniard Caslos Sastre.

Coinciding with his maiden run this week in Renault's new 2009 car, Alonso rode the full 110 kilometer distance, with an average speed of 37kph, as Sastre's current team Cervelo trained in the surrounding areas of the Algarve region in southern Portugal.

2005 and 2006 world champion Alonso's ride followed reports that the 27-year-old has dropped nearly 4 kilograms ahead of the 2009 season by upping his road cycling training program.

"If he trained some more he could be at a very good level in cycling," Cervelo Test Team rider Joaquin Novoa commented to the Spanish newspaper Diario AS.

In 2003, Alonso did a similar training ride with Lance Armstrong's cycling team.