Astana Cycling Team

Here's an update on the condition of our sprinter Assan Bazayev after his bad crash on Tuesday.

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Note: According to our information, Baza has gone home to his Monaco residence, not to Kazakhstan.

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Astana's Assan Bazayev will travel home to Kazakhstan after undergoing plastic surgery on his nose in Belgium this week. The 29-year-old suffered severe damage to his nose in a crash on the opening stage of the Three Days of De Panne on Tuesday.

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Bazayev crashed on the decent of the Berendries during stage one, his face taking the brunt of the impact as he hit a roadside banking. His injuries were described by several directors in the team cars behind the race as some of the worst they had seen.

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"It looked terrible; there was just a hole in his face." Astana team manager Lorenzo Lapage told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.

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Bazayev was transported to a hospital in Oudenaarde after the accident, where a plastic surgeon from Gent carried out surgery to repair the damage.

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"The hospital in Oudenaarde let a surgeon from Gent operate," said Lapage. "Eighty per cent of Bazayev's nose was torn, but the surgeon has now put it back in place. His nose is obviously broken, but if everything goes smoothly, he will fly back to Kazakhstan on Thursday."

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Read the complete article and more at Cyclingnews

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Take care of yourself and get well soon, Baza! We miss you already.

Here is the list of riders to be present for the VUELTA AL PAÍS VASCO (5-10 April):

• David DE LA FUENTE (SPA)
• Dimitri FOFONOV (KAZ)
• Maxim GOUROV (KAZ)
• Daniel NAVARRO (SPA)
• Yevgeniy NEPOMNIYACHSHIY (KAZ)
• Segey RENEV (KAZ)
• Paolo TIRALONGO (ITA)
• Andrey ZEITS (KAZ)

Directeur sportif: Guiseppe MARTINELLI 

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Astana Cycling Team
Communication Department

Here is the list of riders of Astana team to be present for the TOUR OF FLANDERS: 

• Allan DAVIS (AUS)
• Scott DAVIS (AUS)
• Valeriy DMITRIYEV (KAZ)
• Enrico GASPAROTTO (ITA)
• Andriy GRIVKO (UKR)
• Maxim IGLINSKIY (KAZ)
• Valentin IGLINSKIY (KAZ)
• Mirko SELVAGGI (ITA)

Directeur sportif: Laurenzo LAPAGE 

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Astana Cycling Team
Communication Department

After his terrible fall Tuesday at the first stage in 3 Days of De Panne, Assan Bazayev returns home today in Monaco. 

Severely wounded in the face, mostly the nose, he has been followed by a specialist who came from Ghent (Belgium). Assan Bazayev never lost consciousness and he will remain at rest forced for two weeks without being able to bike.

The sport director Laurenzo Lapage, leading the Astana team in this Belgian race said "Assan keeps good spirits and has already in mind to be back on training as soon as possible”.

Andriy Grivko has done a great performance today at the 2nd stage of the Belgian race, called 3 Days of De Panne.

Despite difficult conditions of rain, wind and cold, the Ukrainian was in the breakaway of the day with the Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert and the French Sebastien Turgot.
The three arrived in the sprint, won by the French, but Andriy Grivko now finds himself in the 2nd place overall with the same time as the leading rider, Luca Paolini (Acqua e Sapone).

This gives good prospects for tomorrow, with a race against the clock of 15 km long, for the last stage.

Alberto Contador: "I'm happy with the result" 

Photo ContadorInfo

Alberto Contador finished the Criterium International with an excellent second place in the final time trial, only 2 seconds behind the winner, David Millar, who won a great victory, while Fedrigo confirmed his yellow jersey against rivals just as qualified as Cadel Evans and Samuel Sanchez, who failed to snatch the win. 
 

Alberto Contador said that today the problem with allergy "was different, being a short and explosive effort. The day has been better. It is true that costs a little more that raise the pulse, but I'm happy with my time trial”, he said referring to Saturday and his soufrance because today he regained his level. 
 

About the final winner, Fedrigo, he said that yesterday was "very strong. He started and nobody could follow him. It's a good winner”. About himself, he  admitted that today "I wanted to do it well, to fight for victory and at the end it has been a very short time. That means that what I have suffered was an allergy problem. Today I'm happy, considering the muscle pain that always leaves you a day like this. You always like to win, sure, but Millar is very competitive”, said recognizing his merit.  Read the rest of this entry →

Alexandre Vinokourov : "We can be proud of the Astana team’s work” 

“We can be proud of the Astana team’s work today,” says the Kazakh rider. “We have helped Alberto Contador a lot at the end of the stage, but unfortunately we could not capitalize on our strength. Everything we have done today will have a big payoff in the future, including in the Tour de France. Personally, I am reassured after my elbow injury since my crash at Tirreno-Adriatico.”

Alberto Contador: “You can not always win”

Alberto Contador was unable to complete its team work today because of a allergic crisis that stoped him to breathe well in the last climb, where he decided to keep his pace on the last three kilometers. Astana leader congratulated his teammates and said that cycling “is influenced by many factors and this shows you cannot win allways”.

Photo ContadorInfo

“It's been a pretty hard day”, said Contador, “the team has worked very well, it was very windy and a very good day, very sunny, but that has done that allergy has affected me a lot. I have been attacked especially, and on last 3 kilometers I told Vino to stop because I had trouble for breathing. That causes not to oxygenate my legs well and I decided the best thing was to keep my rhythm and go calmly to the finish”, he said. Read the rest of this entry →