Astana Cycling Team

Alberto Contador in Pyrenees: “We've seen the stages that will decide the Tour”

Photo Jacinto Vidarte

Alberto Contador finished today the recognition of four Pyrenean stages of the Tour 2010, where he spent four days training in the company of seven teammates: Fofonov, Tiralongo, Noval, Navarro, De la Fuente, Hernandez and Pereiro, all included in the Tour pre-selection.
After this stage, Contador plans to ride the Dauphiné Libéré and then recognizing the two Alpine stages of the Tour. A little less than a month before starting on the French race, the leader of Astana is confident and satisfied with his preparation, but he has not reached his best level yet. “Feelings are good, but still they are not the same of the Tour”, he says.

Photo Jacinto Vidarte

Contador has been studied in detail the stages of the Pyrenees and has his conclusions. “These four days in the Pyrenees have been hard, because we've seen the stages that will decide the Tour. All offer many possibilities. The fist one has the final at Ax 3 Domaines climb after a demanding climb, Palhieres;  the next day we will have other very hard climb at the end, Bales, with the finish line after 20 kilometers of descent. On the third day they appear legendary climbs like Tourmalet and L'Aubisque, where can crack a lot of people but the goal is far away. And last day is the main course with the finish on Tourmalet top, the last chance of victory for the climbers, but probably the overall will be almost clarified”. Read the rest of this entry →

Days like Stage 11 are what make the 2010 Giro distracting and exciting to Josep (Luk Beines/AFP/Getty Images)

Hola amigos,

Today the riders in the Giro have had a day, we could say, of transition. It’s been curious because we saw from the first meter of the race that there wasn’t much motivation to fight. The riders were talking and there was little tension in the neutralized zone, a symptom of taking a calmer start. I think that we all had yesterday’s tough stage in mind, with the rain, the cold, the fast tempo and, of course, also what happened in the GC. All this has made us take it easier at the beginning of the race and, good luck! since the first kilometers went up.

With a few attacks, just going over the top of a climb, the escape group of the day formed. I think that the riders in the escape of the day were only trying to accumulate kilometers since at the end of the Giro there’s a prize and a classification for the rider with the most kilometers in breakaways.

In the rest of the peloton we were enjoying a day of sunshine and peace and quiet. That’s right, Garmin and Columbia worked to control the escape and to be able to sprint for the win at the end. These circumstances gave the rest of us a chance to talk about the experience and what had gone on the day before.

Even so, in the end, like good professionals, there was tension and attacks that put excitement in the race. Although the sprinters had gotten over the third climb, a massive sprint wasn’t an option, since the team leaders were really stirring things up and they got to the finish with a few seconds gap.

That’s how I saw this stage and, like I already told you in the last article, we’re having a very distracting and exciting Giro, and it’s going to keep being like that, since a lot of very hard stages are left and in the next stages a lot of our teams will be waging war in order to fight for the stage wins and the general.

A hug for everybody and until next time!

Josep Jufré, cyclist with Astana

Originally appearing in BICICICLISMO

GIRO D’ITALIA – STAGE 12

The sport manager Laurenzo Lapage’s declaration

1. What is your feeling on the stage today?
“Today everything went well, finally a quiet day, with a good weather! The start of the race was not too stressful, and the fact of not wearing the pink jersey allows the team to release the pressure.”

2. How you have filled the loss of three additional riders?
“Yesterday there were 3 riders who quitted, it's unfortunate, but that's how it often happens in the long races, after the first 10 days, some riders are too tired to continue. And this is understandable especially with the bad weather conditions that have occurred since the start of the Giro.”

3. Is this what you expected final sprint, with Vino in the lead?
“We all knew that at the end there would be a small climb, then Vino is gone in the lead because we knew that the favourites would also seek this opportunity to save time, so in these cases, Vino runned because he has the legs for it.”

Astana Communication Department

Jefe de Prensa / Press Officer

Alberto Contador held on Wednesday 19 May a workshop on the modern wind tunnel Epsilon Euskadi, situated in Parque Tecnológico de Álava and considered among the best in the world.
Contador did this test session, which lasted for more than four hours, with the aim of evaluating the performance of new materials as well as aerodynamic improvements could be introduced during the time trial in relation to his position on the bike. “I'm happy with my results, but trying to improve is always important, we have to work as much as possible in this way,” says Alberto. “It's been a long day and you feel cold during the tests, but it's worth the effort.” Read the rest of this entry →

18-05-2010
GIRO D’ITALIA – STAGE 10

Photo by Luk Beines/AFP/Getty Images)

Alexander Vinokourov: "Today was the first quiet day since the beginning of the Giro, the team has benefited of the work of the sprinters and it’s another day in pink!"

You said that tomorrow's stage looked like a Liège-Bastogne-Liège, so do you think you could win it?

"It's hard to say, perhaps, but we can not predict, it is a stage of 262km. The team will try to control the race, but a step in that distance is not the same. I do not know the route, but I think it looks a bit like Tirreno-Adriatico. "

Do you consider the fact of not knowing the course as a disability, do you regret?

"No, I'm like that, and if you have the legs, you have the legs, it was the same for Liege Bastogne Liege had made no recognition either, but I think that the legs that make the difference".

We approach the Dolomites, and on this ground you do not know what you are worth face to riders like Evans and Basso so do you count on the fatigue of your opponents while the race progress to keep the advantage?

"We started the Giro at high sped, under an inclement weather and there are three or four riders remaining who could still win the Giro, but we'll see how it goes during the mountain stages."

You were not afraid of losing your energy for the rest with the effort you have provided while you remained in the lead during yesterday's stage?

"The stage was quite nervous yesterday, but my main rivals have lost as much energy as me, running behind us" Read the rest of this entry →

Stage 6, May 14, 2010 - We’ve finished the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia from Fidenza to Marina de Carrara, the first encounter with the mountains, since today we’ve had three climbs: two were second category—of 11 and 10 kilometers, respectively—and a short third category climb only 11 kilometers from the the finish, but at the end of a race that always causes damage.

I think a lot of riders in the peloton thought that the Lampre team would control things together with Liquigas (the race leaders) since Petacchi could have options since he lives in this town. But that’s not how it went, and effectively Liquigas has controled the race, but not in order to get the stage win. Anyway I’m happy that my ex-teammate and friend, Matthew Lloyd, won. Congratulations!

For our part, Astana had very bad luck, since Roman Kireyev and Valentin Iglinskiy were involved in a big pile-up, fortunately—in principle—without consequences. The worst moment of the day was, without doubt, Paolo Tiralongo’s crash descending the Brattello, where he had to say goodbye to the Giro. It’s really absolutely bad luck. Cycling takes a lot of sacrifice and heart and Paolo is an clear example of that. It was a clear goal for him, this Giro, and he was very motivated and in great shape to ride for the GC. It was a tough blow for the whole Astana team, since we’re definitely going to need him in the rest of the Giro. Hang in there, Paolo! and with this letter we hope that you recover as soon as possible, and that surely we can see you with Alberto and the rest of our teammates in the next Tour de France doing a great race.

And for our part, we’re going to keep working like we have in these six stages, we’ve got Vinokoukov for the general and the rest of the team is very well. The truth is that we’re happy with the work done so far and we’re going to keep together and united in order to do some nice things.

To wrap it up, I want to tell you that the Giro’s a great race and to encourage you to follow it closely because there are spectacular and very tough stages that will definitely be very exciting. I must congratulate all the Italian people, too, for their encouragement along the roads, since there are so many that come to see us every day.

From Marina de Carrara in Tuscany, greetings to everyone and, until next time,

Josep Jufre Pou, rider for Astana

Originally appearing in Biciciclismo

Alberto Contador inagurated today in Barcarrota (Badajoz) a sculpture in the village from

which his family is and where people wanted to dedicate it as a tribute.

The sculpture, which represents a group of cyclists with different images related to the world of cycling, has been carried out by the students of the Abelardo Covarsí School, under the direction of sculptor Luis Martinez Giraldo.

Almost all the inhabitants of Barcarrota, led by its mayor, Santiago M. Cuadrado, attended the event, on which also had an important role Alberto Contador’s grandparents, who accompanied her grandson during a particularly emotional day for the double winner of the Tour de France, Giro and Vuelta.

Read the rest of this entry →

It's Valentin Iglinskiy's birthday today! He gave a little interview to AstanaFans.

- First of all, on behalf of all the fans, Happy 26th Birthday! We wish you good health, strength and well-being!

- Thank you very much!

And also congratulations on your first grand tour. How do you feel?

- Thank you! I feel good of course, riding such a race - it's really prestigious, plus - being in the same team with Vino on a race like that!

What about the speed at the Giro; is it really different from the races you've ridden before?

- It's different, but the stages are more different. I've never ridden such long stages before. It seems fine till kilometer 180-200, then the crisis begins, everyone keeps going, but the ones who aren't as ready simply drop behind, but in general I feel good in this race. Read the rest of this entry →