Astana Cycling Team

Last Tuesday at 9pm, Valentin Iglinskiy got a speeding fines in Nice and was stoped by the french police.

Here are the facts proven in this case:

- Speeding: Valentin was driving at 203km/h on highway

- Blood alcohol positive: Valentin had a rate of 0.64 mg of alcohol per liter of air exhaled.

- Test drugs negative: The saliva test of Valentin was negative.

Regarding his discussion with the police, their might be some misunderstanding, because Valentin can't understand and speak french, english or italian correctly. The team was astonished to learn that he signed a legal paper with statements in french, while he can't understand, speak and read this language.

As stated above, the test drugs was negative, and Valentin Iglinskiy refutes the statements of French radio RTL that says he was tested positive for cocaine. Valentin was then submitted by the police in a blood test and a urine test and the results are not yet revealed. For its part, the UCI came yesterday morning at the home of Valentin and did a blood test, the results of this test is not yet known. We will communicate these results as soon as we know them.

Also, Alexandre Vinokourov rejects the information stated in French Radio RTL that Valentin was just leaving his house, this is totally wrong, they didn't spend the evening together.

Also the Radio RTL stated that Valentin Iglinskiy, was engaged in Tour de France 2011, this is another mistake made by the french radio, because he never took part in this edition of Tour de France.

The team was really shocked to learn that the case was released to the press and that incorrect statements were published while no official result has yet been provided. The Pro Team Astana has the right to take legal action against any inaccurate communication on this matter and will communicate officially on the matter after the official results of blood tests are known. Pending these results, Valentin Iglinskiy rejects the use of any drugs and would like to publicly apologize for this speeding with an alcohol level above the averag

Astana Pro Team
Communication Department
Blandine Roquelet

Dear Mirco, Happy Birthday!
We wish you many happy returns of the day! Be healthy and wealthy and have a lot of success and good luck, a lot of happiness, joy and laughter in this day. We hope your life will be full of surprises, success and love. Shine brightly and be always happy!

With all the best wishes astanafans.com

The sexiest number of the peloton!

Let me introduce Andrey Zeits.

He is the youngest racer in Team Astana on the Tour de France 2011.

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In the morning, while racers had a breakfast and were going to practice, technical staff were preparing everything for it.

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I prepared the report but it was impossible to be efficient due to terrible connection in the hotel. …

Presentation of the teams took place in 90 kilometers from the hotel, the racers were delivered there by bus, we got there by car.

Racers rode on the bikes one more kilometer from the bus

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It was difficult to get the destination. There was a strike in France and I had to spend 10 hours at Amsterdam’s airport. Almost all the staff of KLM was trying to send me to France by train but I steadfastly resisted as I did not want to travel without my luggage, where was my photo equipment. Eventually the plane with me and my luggage was allowed to go to France and it seemed to me a real miracle.
The team was placed on the outskirts of Nantes in the hotel- castle, which was built in 1201 and has undergone recent alterations in 1870.

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I wonder if you still remember me?

This year, same as a last year photo report from Tour de France 2011 for astanafans.com sponsored by KazDuCo www.kazduco.com.

I also got strong support from Astana Team and Kazakhstan Cycling Federation in the person of Alexander Vinokourov, Aidar Makhmetov, Blandine Roquelet, Tatyana Bendz, Yriy Kulishkin.

Equipment is packed, tickets are in my pocket, Shengestan visa is in my passport.
The plan is to make a photo report of the team presentation and of the first 3 stages.

Alexander Gordeyev

www.gordeyev.kz

Sponsored By KazDuCo www.kazduco.com

Individual Time Trial, 50 km
1. Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana city)
2. Andrey Mizourov (Karagandy region)
3. Alexandre Dyachenko (Almaty region)