Astana Cycling Team

Friday 27th August 2010

We had our rental car broken into this morning and our new GPS stolen.  So Roger is a very fed up because he loves his GPS’ melodious English voice called Jane, plus it's difficult to get around here with only a map.

Soigneur Valentin Dorronsoro vacuum cleaning the inside of our car from all the glass pieces

Astana soigneur Valentin Dorronsoro came around with his big vacuum cleaner and removed all the bits and pieces of glass from inside the car, saving us a lot of work, and we had to return the damaged car to Hertz at the airport.  The Omega Pharma Lotto truck was also vandalized.

But we should not let this affect our morale. As they say in French “il vaut mieux ça qu’une jambe de cassé” (better this than a broken leg).   Today our dear grandson Florian turned 10 but it seems that he was born yesterday!, and we saw all the Astana riders leave for their three-hour training at 10 AM.  So I could take another set of good photos.

Josep Jufre, Alexandr Dyachenko, Dima Fofonov

Valentin and Dima

Compared to the tremendous media pressure surrounding the Tour de France, the Vuelta is a very restful race for the riders.  Not many medias, journalists, photographers, and even supporters, so the guys have more time to pose for photos or sign autographs.

With Josep Jufre

With Valentin Iglinsky

We even visited the Saxo Bank team to say hello to Lolo, a very well-known and liked bus driver in the Pro-Tour world!

On this occasion we saw the Schleck brothers who were posing for the press, as well as several teammates like Fabian Cancellara, Stuart O’Grady, etc. with hardly any supporters around.

Arrival of Yvon Sanquer at Sevilla airport. With soigneurs David Vargas and Sergey Lavrenenko

While at the airport to change cars,  we ran across Yvon Sanquer, French manager of Astana Cycling Team, who had just arrived from Paris.  He was in a very good mood and posed for a photo with soigneurs David Vargas and Sergey Lavrenenko.

The setback changed our morning plans and, with the heat, Roger lost the desire for sightseeing as we had previously planned.  The temperature gets up above 40°C and we feel better in our air-conditioned hotel room until it starts getting a little cooler in the late afternoon or early evening.

Also, we have a permanent battle with the internet connection which is lousy, and have to repeat many times the same e-mail or photo dispatch.

Baza and Faustino

The evening team presentation took place in a very nice setting, along the Guadalquivir, next to the Plaza des Toros and the Triana Bridge also known as Puente Isabel II, built by Gustave Eiffel (yes, the one who built the Eiffel Tower!) for the 1921 Universal Exhibition, which is very similar to the Alexandre III Paris bridge.

All the teams waited in a separate zone, under canopies, for their turn to go on the podium.  Each team had its table, but the riders went back and forth, answering to interviews and being photographed by the press or Spanish TV.

Baza and Enrico waiting for team presentation

The ceremony was endless.  Teams were presented five at a time and in between there was a musical interlude of very uninteresting live performers.  Astana, which was presented in the last group of the so-called strongest teams, had to wait a long time because of a technical breakdown of the lighting.

The riders and the staff, who had left at 7:30 their hotel,  had not had their dinner and I suppose they were all starving when they returned at 11 PM.

Kind regards,

Christine