Astana Cycling Team

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Alberto Contador said that he let Paolo Tiralongo win stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia to repay the Italian domestique for all the work he did for him during the 2010 Tour de France, when they both rode for the Astana team.

Contador, now of Saxo Bank-SunGard, danced up the final part of the climb, passing several late attackers including Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) but then eased when he caught the Italian Tiralongo and let him cross the line first. He still finished a few seconds ahead of his overall rivals and collected a 12-second time bonus to extend his overall lead on Michele Scarponi to over five minutes.

"I'm really happy that Tiralongo won because last year a lot of my wins where thanks to the work he did for me," Contador said. Read the rest of this entry →

photo from Pro Team Astana

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Today, rest day of the Giro d'Italia, it's time for all riders to relax. This was also the occasion to take stock with Roman Kreuziger and Robert Kiserlovski.

Roman is currently the best young rider in the Giro d'Italia. He acquired this title after the terrible stage of Etna and the defended it in the last mountain stages.

The rest day is the occasion to go back on this eventful weekend with the assault of the Monte Zoncolan on Saturday and conquest of the Dolomites Sunday "Saturday, the rise of Monte Zoncolan was too steep for me, this profile doesn’t fit my characteristics, but the pure climbers. I felt better Sunday, even if there were more passes to climb, the profile suited me more and I was able to remain among the strongest all day, but unfortunately, on the last kilometre my body no longer responded, my neck and my legs were blocked with the cold and rain. " Read the rest of this entry →

www.gazzetta.it

After the positive experience of Holland 2010, next year's race starts in Herning, in the heart of Jutland. There are 3 stages proposed for the country where everyone cycles.

photo from Gazzetto dello Sport.it

HERNING (Denmark), 1 April 2011 - And then there were ten. In 2012 the Giro will once again start abroad, with Denmark this time embracing the 'pink caravan'. Just two years after a million people transformed the Grande Partenza in Amsterdam into one big party, the 2012 Gazzetta race starts from Herning (population 58,000) in the heart of Jutland, the peninsula that sticks out into the North Sea. The race will start with a 9km time-trial, followed by two days of sprints, as is the custom with these foreign starts. On Sunday 6th March, the 200km second stage also starts and finishes in Herning, the city where Bjarne Riis the Contador team manager was born. On the third and final day the town of Horsens (pop. 56,000), to the east of Herning, will host the start and finish of the 180-200km 3rd stage, before the race moves on to Italy.

photo from Gazzetta dello Sport.it

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www.velonation.com
Says Spanish rider “is better than Armstrong and Indurain”

Having worked with Alberto Contador when he was part of the Astana set-up, that team’s sporting director Giuseppe Martinelli has said that the rider is better than Lance Armstrong and Miguel Indurain, who between them won twelve Tours.

“Contador is already bigger than those two and you will see when he reaches the end of his career, only Eddy Merckx will be ahead of him,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo: © Roberto Bettini

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Astana man impressed by pink jersey’s strength

Roman Kreuziger (Astana) continued his strong start to the Giro d'Italia with an intelligent performance on the slopes of Mount Etna, but he admitted after the stage that it would have been dangerous to follow Alberto Contador's explosive rhythm in the finale.

The Czech fought toe-to-toe with the likes of Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and moved into the white jersey of best young rider, but thought better of attempting to match Contador when he accelerated 6km from the line. Speaking to Cyclingnews before making his way down the volcano, Kreuziger marvelled at Contador's show of force.
. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo: © Giro

New pink jersey downplays Etna dominance

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard) may have seemed like he was from another planet on the slopes of Mount Etna on stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia, but the new maglia rosa delivered his opinions on the day’s events in rather less celestial surroundings.

He faced the media in an impromptu press conference held under a gazebo next to the finish line, with reporters huddled around a beaming Contador, wrapped up against the wind. After such an exhibition of dominance, the question on everyone’s mind was a simple one – is the Giro d’Italia already over?

“No, the Giro has just started,” Contador insisted politely. “It’s really hard and anything could happen in this race.”

Read the rest of this entry →

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VINOKOUROV : WE ARE HERE FOR THE GENERAL AND WE WORKED HARD FOR IT TODAY

The Kazakh leader Alexandre Vinokourov finished third of the stage behind Cadel Evans, Damiano Cunego. "The day went well, when you have good legs, it’s always good! Today the team rode really well "said Alexandre.

Indeed, we saw the Astana team-mates in front of the peloton throughout the stage, successively with the Slovenian champion Gorazd Stangelj who hardened the pace for several km with his team mate Paolo Tiralongo. Then, the Czech Roman Kreuziger took control at 20km from the finish, he was alone in front and imposed a very high pace that the race leader Pavel Brutt couldn’t follow "Roman has done a superb day, thanks the work of our team that the yellow jersey has lost some time. There are other teams that are only targeting a stage victory and that didn’t collaborate, but from our side, we we're there for the general and we've worked hard for it today. " Read the rest of this entry →

Photo: © Bruno Bade

Today, the second stage of the Tour of Turkey with a road of 178km between Kusadasi and Tugurgreis.

This stage was concluded with the victory in the sprint of Kazakh Valentin Iglinskiy, who also took the leader's jersey.

"I am very happy! Said the young Kazakh. I had the feeling I could do well, because I am in good condition actually. This victory is very gratifying, because here there are great sprinters and I managed to make a difference today. It's a great reward for the team because my team mates worked very well in the last kilometers to place me before the sprint. " Read the rest of this entry →