Astana Cycling Team

11/03/2012 - Paris-Nice 2012

Hello my friends from Kazakhstan,

It’s been a long time since I was last in touch, but now I have some news as we have just followed the final three stages of the Paris-Nice race in the footsteps of Astana Pro Team.

Just before the departure of Suze-la-Rousse, Dima Fofonov, who had high temperature, had to quit the race and returned home in Clermont-Ferrand. It’s a pity because we love him. We just had time to say good-bye.

Dima Fofonov just before he left the race

After leaving the beautiful little mountain town of Sisteron we went straight to the French Riviera and the queen city of Nice where the arrival was set on the majestuous and world famous Promenade des Anglais. The sun was shining on the pure glittering water of the Mediterranean sea and the race attracted a huge crowd. But our problem was we could not find the Astana bus among all the team buses parked along the beach.

At last, we spotted one Astana team car driven by our close friend, soigneur Dima Borysov. Soon we were joined by Yuri Kulishkin who recently returned from Tour of Langkawi where he accompanied our star: Alexander Vinokurov. Yuri always follows Vino wherever he races. Yuri who is at home in Nice, was offwork, and we were very happy to see him again. We love him. Soon arrived Andrey Misurov who was watching the race with his family since he also lives in the neighbourhood. It seems that the whole of Kazakh citizens living in France are located on the Cote d’Azur.

Kevin Seeldrayers

After the race arrival we returned with the riders to the Astana team hotel where we stayed for the night. We witnessed the organization of a team celebration dinner and the arrival of guests from the local Astana and Kazakh representatives. Serguey Yakovlev came with wife Olga and their very talkative little girl Elina who is totally bilingual in Russian and French and goes from one language to the other without even thinking about it.

Robert Kiserlovski

But the icing on the cake was the coming of Alexander Vinokourov who said that he and his family had been watching the race live in the afternoon.

Evgeni Petrov

Sisteron and Nice are beautiful settings for a stage departure or arrival and I hope you enjoy my photos.

Jacopo Guarnieri

Before leaving we had the great pleasure to see Maxim Gourov with wife Olessya and daughter Natalie who just turned 6. Unfortunately for all the supporters of handsome Maxim he quit pro riding and is now part of the Astana Race Department. The family moved from Limoges and now lives in Nice.

Nice Promenade des Anglais Hotel Negresco

Bye for now my dear friends from Kazakhstan. We are returning to Malaga, (Spain), our second home after Paris, to perform our duties of grand-parents. But we’ll be back soon!

Jani Brajkovic