Astana Cycling Team

PRO TEAM ASTANA IN THE HUNT FOR SUCCESS

Victory the only objective in Spain and Malaysia

Milan, Italy, 24th February, 2012 – Pro Team Astana will be in action on two different continents in the coming days. Part of the team is currently engaged in a week-long training camp in Calpe – the location for Astana’s winter camps – and on Sunday will compete in Spain’s Clásica de Almeria. Meanwhile, Alexandr Vinokourov and an all-Kazakh team will be racing in Malaysia’s Tour de Langkawi from Friday onwards.

Team Manager Mr Giuseppe Martinelli will coordinate operations from the team support bus at the Clásica de Almeria, and he was quite clear about expectations for his riders: “We came to Spain with two objectives: the first is a week of team training in Calpe to improve our overall fitness; the second, and more important, is to take top spot in the Clásica de Almeria. That is why we are fielding eight highly experienced riders, including both Roman [Kreuziger] and Jani [Brajkovič], our designated leaders for the Giro and the Tour, as well as a battery of quality sprinters including Gavazzi, Guarnieri and Bozič. We are not here to take a back seat: the Almeria race is a ‘Hors Categorie’ in the UCI Europe Tour, so we are well aware of its prestige. The other teams will surely want to have their say, but we have come here to win.”

The eight riders lining up for Pro Team Astana in Sunday’s Clásica de Almeria are:

Roman Kreuziger
Jani Brajkovič
Borut Bozič
Simone Ponzi
Jacopo Guarnieri
Enrico Gasparotto
Francesco Gavazzi
Fredrik Kessiakoff

Meanwhile in Malaysia, the Tour de Langkawi provides the occasion for Alexandr Vinokourov’s season debut, marking his return to the peloton after his accident at the Tour de France last year. The ten-day tour will afford Vinokourov the chance to regain race confidence, continue his physical recovery and improve his fitness. Read the rest of this entry →

BUSY WEEKEND FOR PRO TEAM ASTANA

Martinelli assesses the team’s results at the Trofeo Laigueglia and the Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var

Milan, Italy, 20th February, 2012 – Pro Team Astana’s efforts on the dual fronts of the Trofeo Laigueglia and the Tour Cycliste International du Haut Var did not bring the results hoped for at the outset. Astana ended the weekend with Gavazzi and Gasparotto taking fifth and seventh places, respectively, at the Trofeo Laigueglia, while Kessiakoff finished seventh in the second stage of the Haut Var.

Summarising his riders’ performances, Mr Giuseppe Martinelli said: “I cannot be satisfied with the results: Gavazzi in fifth and Gasparotto in seventh does not do justice to the riders’ efforts during the 49th Trofeo Laigueglia. There is no doubt that we played a major part in the race and really made the running, both to chase down the breakaway during the last lap and on the two rough bits at Pinamare and Capo Mele, just a few kilometres from the finishing line. However, at the crucial moment we just lacked that little bit of luck you need in order to turn commitment and strategy into victory.”

Mr Guido Bontempi, meanwhile, provided his assessment of the team’s efforts at Tour du Haut Var: “The team worked well during the two days on the Côte d'Azur. Kessiakoff impressed me: his fitness is improving every day and I expect him to produce a performance at the Tirreno–Adriatico worthy of the great climber that he is.”

Mr Martinelli then moved on to look at Astana's next objectives, saying: “Despite our good preparations through the winter, we are not yet the finished article. We hope to pull off a win as soon as possible, which would give the whole team a confidence boost and repay the hard work we have put in so far.”

Pro Team Astana's next engagements are the Tour de Langkawi, taking place from Friday 24 February to Sunday 4 March, and the Clásica de Almeria, held on Sunday 26 February.

www.ltdl.com

In the final year of his successful career, Alexandre Vinokourov will return to the race where it all started for him fifteen years ago: Le Tour de Langkawi. The Kazakh super star will lead the Astana Pro Team in the Malaysian UCI 2.HC event from February 24 to March 4.

“I’ve always wanted to do this race again but it was never on my team’s calendar or appropriate for my race schedule”, said Vinokourov who took part in the second edition of Le Tour de Langkawi in 1997. A member of the Kazakh national team, he was scouted by Gilles Mas who directed the Casino team in Malaysia and realized his exceptional strength even though he was sick and didn’t deliver results like his team-mate and compatriot Andrey Mizourov who won the inaugural time trial in Kota Kinabalu. It was the only trip up to date of LTdL to East Malaysia on the Borneo island.

After the 1997 Le Tour de Langkawi, Vinokourov joined Mas’ French amateur club EC Saint-Etienne and signed as a neo-pro for Casino. “Le Tour de Langkawi has a special place in my heart and I always knew that it is a very well organised race”, the Kazakh said.

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After discovering that bad intentioned people used his name on Twitter, Alexandre Vinokourov has just discovered in an interview with a Swiss journalist that his emails have been hacked.

This invasion of privacy is a new episode of the pressure and personal attacks that the Kazakh leader suffered in recent years. "I do not understand why some people are always looking to find some stories about me, says Alexandre Vinokourov. I am a cyclist and there is no place in our sport for the gutter press. I don't ever allow myself to attack anyone personally. I wish to finish my career quietly even though obviously it bothers some people that I'm still on a bike. "

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www.cyclingnews.com

Kazakhstan’s ruling Nur Otan party has named Alexandre Vinokourov among its list of candidates for the country’s forthcoming general election, which takes place on January 15.

Vinokourov’s name was greeted with generous applause when it was announced before delegates on Friday during the unveiling of the party's 127 candidates. Nur Otan is currently the only party represented in the Mazhilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh parliament.

“It’s an honour for me to participate in the election as a candidate for a position as a deputy,” Vinokourov said, according to dhnet.be.

Kazakhstan uses a list system to elect its members of parliament, meaning that if elected, Vinokourov would not have to take up his seat immediately and could replace a sitting Nur Otan deputy at a later date.

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Stay:

• Francesco Masciarelli (till the end of 2013)
• Paolo Tiralongo (till the end of 2013)
• Alexandre Vinokourov (till the end of 2012)
• Roman Kreuziger (till the end of 2012)
• Enrico Gasparotto (till the end of 2012)
• Evgeny Petrov (till the end of 2012)
• Fredrik Kessiakoff (till the end of 2012)
• Assan Bazayev
• Alexandr Dyachenko
• Dmitriy Fofonov
• Andriy Grivko
• Maxim Iglinskiy
• Valentin Iglinskiy
• Tanel Kangert
• Robert Kiserlovski
• Yevgeniy Nepomnyachsiy
• Sergey Renev
• Andrey Zeits

Come:

• Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) - officially confirmed by 30/09/2011
• Simone Ponzi (Liquigas-Cannondale)
• Fabio Aru
• Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil-DCM) - officially confirmed by 19/09/2011
• Kevin Seeldraeyers (Quick Step) - officially confirmed by 19/09/2011
• Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-ISD) - officially confirmed by 23/08/2011
• Egor Silin (Katusha) - officially confirmed by 23/08/2011
• Jacopo Guarnieri (Liquigas-Cannondale) - officially confirmed by 23/08/2011
• Dmitriy Muravyev (RadioShack) - officially confirmed by 08/08/2011
• Andrey Kashechkin (Lampre-ISD) - officially confirmed by 01/08/2011

Out:

• Josep Jufre
• Mirco Lorenzetto
• Andrey Mizourov
• Maxim Gourov (end of career)
• Allan Davis > GreenEDGE - officially confirmed by 20/09/2011
• Gorazd Stangelj (end of career)
• Tomas Vaitkus > GreenEDGE - officially confirmed by 29/08/2011
• Roman Kireyev (end of career) - officially confirmed by 22/08/2011
• Rémy Di Gregorio > Cofidis - officially confirmed by 05/08/2011
• Simon Clarke > GreenEDGE - officially confirmed by 23/08/2011

www.velonation.com
Italian and Spanish venues for pre-season work
The start of the season is almost two months away but the Astana team is intensifying its preparations for 2012 with two back-to-back training camps being held this month. On Monday the riders will meet in Montecatini in Italy and stay there until Thursday, after which they will fly to Calpe in Spain for the start of a ten day camp there.

Apart from building fitness, the aim will be to ensure the equipment and bike setup is fine-tuned for the riders, as well as to discuss plans for the season.

The Astana team will once again be led by Alexandre Vinokourov in 2012, and will be bolstered by the addition of riders like Vuelta a España stage winner Borut Bozic, 2010 Critérium du Dauphiné victor Janez Brajkovic, Vuelta al Pais Vasco stage winner Francesco Gavazzi and the promising Belgian rider Kevin Seeldraeyers.
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Contador faces opponents at CAS with attorneys Mike Morgan (center) and Adam Lewis (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

albertocontadornotebook.info

La Gazzetta dello Sport (print edition) | November 17 | He had no doubt, and when Alberto called him, Paolo didn't think twice about it. He decided immediately: "Sure, I'll come to Lausanne to be a witness."
Alberto is Contador, the number one. Paolo is Tiralongo: This year he won his first career victory - the Macugnaga stage at the Giro - with the King's blessing. And in 2010, he was Contador's teammate at Astana, and his gregario in that victorious and, thanks to the clenbuterol case, controversial Tour.

"I was always around him, and not only during the race." So it was not by chance that this 34-year-old Sicilian was present at what would prove to be a key moment of that Tour: the dinner at the Hotel Lescar in Pau. Precisely the one with "clenbuterol in the meat."

And so Tiralongo will be the only Italian among Contador's witnesses at the CAS hearing (November 21-24, with a decision expected within 6-8 weeks). Barring changes to the schedule, he'll arrive in Switzerland on the evening of the 22nd, and will testify in Contador's favor the next day.

Tiralongo, do you still remember the evening that later became famous?
Yes, of course. Those were the decisive days of a hard-fought Tour (in Paris, Alberto was only ahead of Andy by 39 seconds). Alberto and I were in close contact; in reality, we did practically all the same things. Read the rest of this entry →