Astana Cycling Team

We’ve collected preliminary info about Astana rosters for races from Giro till TdF:

• 9-31.05 – Giro d’Italia: Armstrong, Leipheimer, Braicovic, Horner, Morabito, Navarro, Popovych, Rubiera, Zeits
• 15-17.05 – Tour de Picardie: Dmitriev, Kupeshov, Raimbekov, Muraviev, Rast, Schar, Renev
• 18-24.05 – Volta Ciclista a Catalunya: Bazayev, Horner, Iglinskiy, Noval, Paulinho, Hernandez, Dyachenko, Zubeldia
• 27-31.05 – Tour of Belgium: ????
• 3-6.06 – Tour de Luxembourg: Klöden, Bazayev, Muraviev, Rast, Schar, Dyachenko, Dmitriev, Raimbekov
• 7-14.06 – Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré: Contador, Leipheimer, Iglinskiy, Noval, Paulinho, Vaitkus, Zubeldia
• 13-21.06 – Tour de Suisse: Bazayev, Iglinskiy, Klöden, Braicovic, Morabito, Muraviev, Rast, Shaer,Kireyev
• 4-26.07 – Tour de France: Contador, Armstrong, Leipheimer, Klöden, Horner, Iglinskiy, Muraviev, Noval, Popovych, Rast, Rubiera, Vaitkus, Zubeldia

We’ve collected preliminary info about Astana rosters for nearest races. Of course that everything could be changed. In bold – the riders who confirmed their plans in press or directly.

• 12.04 – Paris – Roubaix: Popovych, Rast, Schar, Dmitriev, Kupeshov, Raimbekov, Morabito, Noval, (Vaitkus, Renev – injury)
• 19.04 – Amstel Gold Race: Bazayev, Horner, Iglinskiy, Muraviev, Noval, Morabito, Dyachenko, Hernandez
• 22.04 – La Flèche Wallonne: Kloeden, Zubeldia, Bazayev, Horner, Iglinskiy, Noval, Paulinho, Hernandez, Dyachenko
• 26.04 - L-B-L: Braicovic, Zubeldia, Bazayev, Horner, Iglinskiy, Noval, Paulinho, Hernandez, Dyachenko
• 22-25.04 – Giro del Trentino: Braicovic, Popovych, Dmitriev, Kupeshov, Raimbekov, Kireev, Zeits, Renev – ?, Armstrong
  
• 28.04 – 3.05 – Tour de Romandie: Kloeden, Zubeldia, Horner – ?, Morabito, Navarro, Rubiera, Schar
• 9-31.05 – Giro d’Italia: Armstrong-?, Leipheimer-?, Braicovic, Horner, Kireev, Morabito, Navarro, Popovych, Rubiera, Zeits, Vaitkus Read the rest of this entry →

Klöden: Quiet, methodical and looking to July
German quietly on track for Tour
By Andrew Hood

Andreas Klöden lines up Tuesday for the start of the Circuit de la Sarthe as one of the top favorites for victory.

The Astana rider, winner of the French race in 2007, revealed he’s on some strong early season form with a stage victory and third-place overall at Tirreno-Adriatico last month and fifth in his season debut at the Volta ao Algarve in February.

For the veteran German, races like Sarthe and next month’s Tour de Romandie (which he won in 2008) are all part of a plan to arrive at the Tour de France in the best possible condition.

“I will only look to the Tour. Everything I do now is to be ready for the Tour,” Klöden told VeloNews in an interview earlier this season. “I want to arrive at the Tour at 110 percent condition, then we’ll see.” Read the rest of this entry →

By Bonnie D. Ford
ESPN.com

Lance Armstrong’s team manager and longtime friend Johan Bruyneel on Monday strongly disputed a report that the cyclist deliberately stalled a representative of the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) during an out-of-competition test on March 17.

Armstrong was training in southern France at the time in preparation for the Milan-San Remo one-day race. Unsourced reports on several French Web sites and Radio Monte Carlo stated that Armstrong kept the doctor sent by the AFLD waiting for 30 minutes behind a closed door before giving samples. The French daily sports newspaper L’Equipe reported that the AFLD had filed a report about the incident and forwarded it to the UCI, cycling’s international governing body, and WADA.

AFLD head Pierre Bordry would not confirm any details about the report. “I am not making any judgment on what is in the report, because I’m not certain that it’s an infraction,” Bordry told ESPN.com.

Bordry said he was still awaiting a formal response from the UCI, but federation spokesman Enrico Carpani told ESPN.com that the UCI has no jurisdiction over this kind of issue. “The rules are very clear,” Carpani said. “Any out-of-competition control made by a national anti-doping agency has to be managed by them.” Read the rest of this entry →

Финальные километры гонки
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The return

Cyclingnews: What are the big differences in the peloton since you retired in 2005?
Lance Armstrong: I am honestly still trying to figure that out. It is tricky for me to figure out so far because Australia has been an anomaly and California is kind of an anomaly.

I can tell you that from Australia and the Tour of California the racing has been fast. I think that’s good for racing, good for the sport… You roll around in Australia and all of a sudden you are on the limit, and you say to some guy, ‘I thought this was a fun race.’ I thought it was one of these races where guys have a beer the night before and then show up and race the next day. The next thing you know, this year we are all in the gutter and suffering on the limit.

I think those guys realise that the races are televised around the world. Every media outlet from the neighbourhood paper all the way up to the international papers were there. There is a lot of added attention and pressure from their sponsors and teams. So the guys came fit and ready to race. That happens, and shit, the thing rolls down the road a lot quicker.

CN: Can you put a figure on how much your comeback has generated to date for the Livestrong foundation?
LA: It’s an interesting time for all of us. Most non-profits are working on a 40 to 50 percent reduction in funds raised for this year based on the economy in the United States and around the world. We are flat to slightly up; I suspect that has to do with the comeback and the added attention around that. Read the rest of this entry →

TOMORROW: VUELTA A CASTILLA Y LEÓN

March 23 – 27, 2009

“The race is riding on the time trial”

Tomorrow Alberto Contador will begin his third contest of the season, the Vuelta a Castilla y León. He’s especially looking forward to his first race back in Spain, his home country. Contador, who has won the last two editions of Castilla y León, sees this race as relaxed and particularly appealing. “It’s a region that, you might say, is very familiar to me.”

Are you looking forward to racing in Spain again?

Yes, of course, especially at Castilla y León, which is a race I really like. I’ve ridden it several times and it’s gone very well.

What are your feelings on the eve of battle? Are you thinking about a third consecutive victory?

I’m motivated and ready to race, but I see this edition as very difficult, because everything depends on the 28-kilometer time trial, since the mountain finishes will be for arriving in the group. I’ll do a test on the day of the time trial and we’ll just see what happens then, but in principle this route is better for Leipheimer. Read the rest of this entry →

King Armstrong holds court in Milan’s Castello Sforzesco

By Gregor Brown, March 20, 2009

Lance Armstrong is on the eve of his return to racing in Europe. The American from Texas arrived at Milan’s Castello Sforzesco Friday to hold a press conference one day before the 298-kilometre Milano-Sanremo, three years and eight months since he ended his career at the 2005 Tour de France.

The team Astana rider, 37, started his comeback journey in the fall of 2008 with some local races, but he pinned on his race number for the first time at the Tour Down Under in January. In February, he continued his racing programme in the Tour of California, but the Milano-Sanremo is the first time he is racing in an event that is so much a part of cycling’s history.

Armstrong retired from the sport immediately after his seventh Tour de France victory. In his post-cancer career he excelled in stage races, not one-day races, although he did race a few of them. His last one was the 2005 Ronde van Vlaanderen, and his last appearance at Milano-Sanremo was in 2002.

“My first Milano-Sanremo was in 1993, with Motorola,” said Armstrong. “I remember it well, even if I was not a factor because I was there to work for Max Sciandri.”

“I think it is my sixth or seventh time here [at Milano-Sanremo]. For me it represents a lot of the history and beauty in cycling. It has a certain mystique. Unfortunately, I could not do the Tour of Flanders because of scheduling, but I wanted to do more Classics.”

“It is good for training as well. It is hard to go out and do 300 kilometres in training.”

What is your main ambition?

Lance Armstrong: I want to have a good and safe day. We know this race can be dangerous. If there are 30 or 40 guys in the end, I hope I am there with them. This race was never my strong suit, but I hope to be somewhat involved. Read the rest of this entry →

Five ProTour teams have not yet made the required contributions to the biological passport programme, and may be excluded from the upcoming Paris-Nice if they do not make the required minimum payment by today. At a press conference in Paris today, UCI President Pat McQuaid said that Cofidis, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Silence-Lotto, Quick Step and Caisse d’Epargne are the teams involved.

“If the teams do not pay by the close of business today, they will not be able to take part in the UCI’s World Calendar races,” McQuaid said. The teams’ contribution to the biological passport programme is 120,000 Euro. Half is due by March 5, and the second half due by the end of June. Some teams have already paid the full amount, and other teams have paid only the required first-half. McQuaid did not indicate whether the five teams have paid nothing or have paid less than the required amount.

He further noted that all of the Professional Continental teams who have wild-card status and belong to the biological passport programme have paid in full.

McQuaid said that as far as he knew, LPR Brakes had paid the full amount, but that Quick Step had not. “It is not acceptable that small teams with a smaller budged have paid, but that some ProTour teams have not,” McQuaid said. Read the rest of this entry →