[1] He won the bronze medal in men's team pursuit at the 2003 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, and later represented his nation France in two editions of the Olympic Games (2004 and 2008).

Before his official retirement in late 2008, Sanchez rode for three seasons on the FDJeux.com pro cycling team, following by his annual stint on Cofidis in 2006.

On that same year, he delivered the French foursome a bronze-medal time of 4:04.119 to defeat the Russians in men's team pursuit at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, earning them a guaranteed spot for the Olympics.

[8] The following year, Sanchez qualified for his second French squad, as a 25-year-old, in the men's individual pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing based on the nation's selection process from the UCI Track World Rankings.

[9] Sanchez could not produce a more striking effort in the prelims after losing out his 4 km opening match to Australia's Brett Lancaster by a seven-second gap in 4:33.100, dropping him to fifteenth place in the overall standings.