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. Astana will also have a number of different specialists to call on in Malaysia: Gruzdev and Dyachenko will focus on the time-trial prologue, Dyachenko and Zeits on stage victories and the general classification, and Bazayev on the sprints. Directeur sportif Mr Alexandr Shefer will be in charge of Astana’s six Kazakh riders in Malaysia:

Alexandr Vinokourov
Assan Bazayev
Alexandr Dyachenko
Dmitry Gruzdev
Valentin Iglinskiy
Andrey Zeits