Tag Archive: Astana
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You are browsing the tag archive for Astana.
Spain’s Alberto Contador secured a Paris-Nice double whammy on Thursday by winning the race’s fourth stage here, becoming the overall leader in the process.
The Astana rider attacked 1700 meters from the line to finish 10 seconds ahead of compatriots Alejandro Valverde and Samuel Sanchez after the 173.5 kilometer ride from [...]
VIENNA, Jan 30, 2010 (AFP) – Tour de France champion Alberto Contador insists the thought of having seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as his main rival in this year’s race is not keeping him awake at night.
The Spaniard, Tour champion in 2007 and 2009 and Tour of Italy and Spain [...]
Specialized is one of Team Astana’s sponsors, and with Alberto Contador being on the team, plus he signed a contract with Specialized, it was only a matter of time before a Specialized road bike would show up. Moving forward, here are the official photos of Team Astana Specialized Tarmac SL3 Road Bike, and a nice [...]
Reigning Santos Tour Down Under champion Allan Davis will return to Adelaide to defend his title with new team Astana.
Allan Davis today confirmed he has signed a two year contract with Astana and will debut with the team at the Santos Tour Down Under later this month.
“Being the defending champion means pressure in any sport. [...]
PARIS, Jan 5, 2010 (AFP) – Australian Allan Davis, champion in last year’s Tour Down Under, has signed a two-year deal with the Astana team, led by Spanish star Alberto Contador, the team said Tuesday.
Davis had spent the past two seasons with Belgian team Quick Step.
Davis’ brother Scott, a [...]
PARIS, Dec 23, 2009 (AFP) – Blood doping kits were discovered in a search of medical equipment belonging to the Astana team during this year’s Tour de France.
Blood transfusions are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The find, which was first reported by French newspaper Le Monde, [...]
PARIS, Dec 8, 2009 (AFP) – Spain’s Oscar Pereiro, a former Tour de France winner, has signed a one-year contract with Astana, the Kazakh team announced on Tuesday.
The move will allow Pereiro to join up with compatriot Alberto Contador, who is the reigning Tour de France champion.
Pereiro, 32, had been with Spanish team Caisse [...]
MADRID, Nov 10, 2009 (AFP) – Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador may stay with the Astana team until 2010, but no longer than that, Spanish media said Tuesday.
The Spanish rider will make a decision in the coming days, but there is no question of him remaining at the Kazakh team for more [...]
MADRID, Oct 29, 2009 (AFP) – Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador revealed on Thursday that he is yet to choose which team he will ride for next season but is likely to remain with his current outfit Astana.
“I’m in the process of evaluating the Astana team, with [...]
PARIS, Oct 30, 2009 (AFP) – The International Cycling Union (UCI) on Thursday reopened a war of words with the French anti-doping agency AFLD in blasting an AFLD report which suggested the Union had favored the Astana team in the Tour de France.
The French earlier this month released a [...]
PARIS, Oct 30, 2009 (AFP) – The International Cycling Union (UCI) on Thursday reopened a war of words with the French anti-doping agency AFLD in blasting an AFLD report which suggested the Union had favored the Astana team in the Tour de France.
The French earlier this month released a critical report suggesting the UCI [...]
MADRID, Oct 24, 2009 (AFP) – Tour de France champion Alberto Contador would like to race with a Spanish team next year but refused to rule out staying with Astana until his contract with the Kazakh-funded outfit runs out in 2010.
Astana has not yet been granted a ProTour license [...]
Kazakh cycling team Astana, still awaiting their ProTour license, insisted Friday they are hopeful of keeping Tour de France champion Alberto Contador among their riders.
Astana and four other teams – Caisse d’Epargne, Euskaltel, Saxo Bank and Sky – were on Thursday found lacking by the International Cycling Union (UCI) in their [...]
PARIS, Oct 14, 2009 (AFP) – Spain’s reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador played down the threat of a drugs probe that was launched a day before the presentation of next year’s race.
Paris prosecutors on Tuesday revealed they had launched an investigation after the discovery of suspicious medical [...]
A doping inspector with the International Cycling Union (UCI) has backed the body’s claims that Lance Armstrong’s team were not given special treatment by UCI anti-doping inspectors at the 2009 Tour de France.
Doctors from France’s national anti-doping agency (AFLD) carried out most of the drug testing at July’s three-week epic, won by [...]
French anti-doping chiefs (AFLD) said Wednesday they were surprised at the lack of positive doping tests at this year’s Tour de France and said they won’t collaborate with world cycling’s ruling body next year.
And the AFLD maintained its claims that the Astana team of Lance Armstrong and eventual winner Alberto Contador [...]
The cycling future of the Astana team, whose star rider is Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, could be in doubt, UCI chief Pat McQuaid said Saturday.
Astana are currently hoping to impress the UCI Pro Tour license commission sufficiently to gain a new four-year license and thus be able to continue racing [...]
Two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, under contract with Astana until 2010, is unwilling to negotiate with his Kazakh-funded team until management issues are cleared up.
“Currently, we don’t know who’s leading Astana, that’s why I have some doubts,” Contador said of Astana, which has had financial troubles this [...]
MADRID, Sept 5, 2009 (AFP) – Two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, under contract with Astana until 2010, has received offers from Garmin, Caisse d’Epargne and Quick Step as well as a proposed contract extension from Astana, a source close to the rider said Saturday.
The proposal from Caisse [...]
Kazakh cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov will return to racing Tuesday after serving a two-year doping ban which followed a positive test on the 2007 Tour de France.
Vinokourov will get back in the saddle for Tuesday’s criterium race at Castillon-la-Bataille in southwestern France, organizers said.
“It is his first race after [...]
VERBIER, Switzerland, July 19, 2009 (AFP) – Spain’s 2007 champion Alberto Contador of Astana took possession of the Tour de France yellow jersey after a superb solo attack and victory on the 15th stage in the Swiss Alps Sunday.
Contador, winning his first individual stage of this year’s race, attacked [...]
Lance Armstrong will be able to compete for his eighth Tour de France title this summer after his Astana team announced on Monday that they have resolved their financial problems.
Unpaid bank guarantees meant the Kazakh team, who also boast Spain’s 2007 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, had been threatened with [...]
PARIS, June 5, 2009 (AFP) – Astana, the team of seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and Spanish star Alberto Contador, have yet to pay a bank guarantee on which their racing future depends, manager Johan Bruyneel said Friday.
“The problem has not yet been sorted,” Bruyneel told AFP [...]
American Lance Armstrong admitted he is still finding his climbing legs after losing nearly three minutes to the favourites on the Tour of Italy’s second day in the mountains.
Russian Denis Menchov won an uphill sprint to claim the Giro’s fifth stage over 125km from San Martino di Castrozza [...]
By ANDREW DAMPF,
AP Sports Writer
May 6, 7:22 pm EDT
VENICE, Italy (AP)—Lance Armstrong lashed out Wednesday at Kazakh officials who let his Astana team fall into a financial crisis on the eve of his first Giro d’Italia.
“I don’t know them, I don’t have a personal relationship with them, but I get frustrated,” said the seven-time [...]
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong is regaining the form he showed before breaking his collarbone last month in a crash in Spain, Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel
said on Thursday.
Bruyneel, in the United States to watch Armstrong and Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner compete as independents in [...]
Silver City, NM – April 28, 2009 – Lance Armstrong has announced his return to racing will commence at the challenging 23rd SRAM Tour of the Gila (New Mexico, USA). The Texan was back on the bike days after a crash and subsequent collar bone fracture in the Castilla y León in (Spain) stage race [...]
by Justin Davis
PARIS, April 28, 2009 (AFP) – American Lance Armstrong has performed a dramatic u-turn and will race in New Mexico’s Tour de Gila in a bid to hone his form for the Giro d’Italia which begins on May 9, his team confirmed on Tuesday.
It [...]
Lance Armstrong’s Astana team expressed optimism Wednesday over his prospects of recovering from his broken collarbone in time to line up for next month’s Tour of Italy.
The seven-time Tour de France winner’s participation in the Giro which starts on May 9 was thrown into doubt after he required surgery [...]
MADRID, April 8, 2009 (AFP) – Spain’s Alberto Contador seized the overall leadership at the halfway point of the Tour of the Basque Country after launching a daring late attack to win Wednesday’s third stage.
The 2007 Tour de France winner finished nine seconds ahead of a trio of riders [...]
American cycling legend Lance Armstrong has expressed his outrage at claims from France that he had not behaved himself during an out of competition drug test earlier this season.
The French Anti-doping Agency (AFLD) had announced on Monday that they had compiled a report on the seven-time Tour de France champion’s reaction to [...]
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MADRID, March 27, 2009 (AFP) – Americain Levi Leipheimer of the Astana team Friday won the Tour of Castilla y Leon in northern Spain, a race overshadowed by an injury to his teammate and countryman Lance Armstrong.
Spain’s Alejandro Valverde of the Caisse d’Epargne team won Friday’s fifth and final [...]
Team Astana’s Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador finished first and second in the second stage of the Spanish stage race Vuelta a Castilla y León. Leipheimer took over the lead after winning the individual time trial in and around Palencia. He finished the 28 kilometer course in 33:17 and was 16 seconds faster than [...]
PALENCIA, Spain, March 24, 2009 (AFP) – American cycling legend Lance Armstrong left Spain for his home in Texas Tuesday a day after suffering a broken collarbone during a race.
“Sitting in the airport getting ready to fly home. Layover in NYC then ATX!” (Austin, Texas), Armstrong said on the [...]
MILAN, Italy, March 20, 2009 (AFP) – Lance Armstrong on Friday declared himself “happy” to be competing in the Milan-San Remo again after an absence of seven years.
“It will be an opportunity to see where I am,” the seven-time Tour de France winner said prior to his first European [...]
MILAN, Italy, March 20, 2009 (AFP) – American cycling legend Lance Armstrong will meet with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi before competing in the Giro d’Italia on May 9-June 1 in a bid to raise awareness of the threat of cancer in Italy.
Armstrong, a cancer survivor who went on [...]
Team Astana’s Andreas Klöden took over the lead in the Italian stage race Tirreno-Adriatrico (March 11th-17th) after winning the 5th stage, an individual time trial from Loreto to Macerata. Klöden finished the 30 kilometer course in 41:32 and was more than 20 seconds faster than Stijn Devolder. Swedish rider Thomas Lökvist finished third at [...]
PARIS, March 2, 2009 (AFP) – Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong is to continue his build-up to this year’s Tour of Italy and Tour de France with two races in Europe later this month his Astana team announced on Monday.
The 37-year-old American – who returned to competitive [...]
PRESS RELEASE – TEAM ASTANA
Team Astana’s Alberto Contador took an early season-victory by winning the 4th stage in the Tour of Algarve (Portugal), a 33.7 kilometer individual time trial in Tavira. On a long and challenging route between Castro Marim and Tavira, Contador was 33 seconds faster than Sylvain Chavanel . Team Astana’s Andreas Klöden [...]
SANTA CRUZ, California, Feb 16, 2009 (AFP) – American Thomas Peterson won the second stage of the Tour of California on Monday while countryman Levi Leipheimer seized the leader’s yellow jersey and Lance Armstrong was well back.
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Astana’s Leipheimer, second in the 186.6km stage from Sausalito to Santa Cruz, arrived at the finish line about [...]
MADRID, Oct 18, 2008 (AFP) – Spaniard Alberto Contador, reigning champion of the Tour of Italy and Spain, on Saturday confirmed he will remain at Astana next season despite the arrival of Lance Armstrong.
“Next year I will continue with the Astana team,” said Contador. “I’ve studied the situation and [...]
PAU, France, July 15, 2008 (AFP) – Seventeen of the world’s top cycling teams said on Tuesday they would not be seeking a Pro Tour license for 2009, according to a statement released here at the Tour de France.
The Pro Tour was launched by the International Cycling Union (UCI) in [...]
Successful Weekend: Yellow In Oregon, Podiums In Austria
More than ten years after his first stage victories in the Cascade Cycling Classic (1996, 1997) Levi Leipheimer claimed the overall victory in the five-day-race in Central Oregon. Not present in the Tour the France, the USA road champion, was delighted to wear a yellow jersey, the one [...]
There are still two days to go, but Levi Leipheimer has taken an option on the final victory in the Cascade Cycling Classic. It is the 29th edition of America’s longest consecutively run stage race. Leipheimer was impressive in stage 3, the Skyliner’s time trial in Bend over 22,4 km (15 m). The US champion [...]
by Justin Davis
AURILLAC, France, July 11, 2008 (AFP) – French police have taken Spanish cyclist Manuel Beltran, of the Liquigas team, away for questioning in the wake of the first doping scandal to emerge at this year’s Tour de France.
Beltran, best known for helping Lance Armstrong to the [...]
Tomas Vaitkus had two successful days in his homeland of Lithuania. After he took the silver medal in the time trial on Friday, he won the national title in the road race on Saturday. Both races were held in Ignalina.
“The road race was a big goal of mine, which all my competitors knew coming into [...]
Sérgio Paulinho is the new time trial champion of Portugal. The only Portuguese Astana Cycling Team rider was the fastest rider on the 27.6 K long circuit in Paredes. Paulinho was challenged by Tiago Machado, the U23 champion of the last two years, who finished only two seconds behind. Another young rider, Hélder Oliveira, the [...]
For the third day in a row the Astana Cycling Team won a gold medal in the national championships. On Saturday, Assan Bazayev took the national road title in Kazakhstan. Bazayev, known for his sprinting ability, finished solo in Karaganda. Sergey Renez (Ulan) was second with Maxim Gurov (A-Style Somn) finishing third.
Team Astana had [...]
Only two of the 180 riders in the Russian championship were Astana Cycling Team riders but a Team rider won. Sergey Ivanov was the strongest rider in the Russian championship in Krylatskoe. The riders had to do 15 laps. In each lap there were four short but steep climbs. It was a hard race. [...]
ALTORF, Switzerland, June 21, 2008 (AFP) – Czech rider Roman Kreuziger, of the Liquigas team, won the eighth stage of the Tour of Switzerland here on Saturday to seize the yellow jersey ahead of Sunday’s final day.
The 22-year-old was first over the 25km time-trial in one hour and [...]
VERBIER, Switzerland, June 19, 2008 (AFP) – Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen, riding for the High Road team, surged into the overall lead of the Tour of Switzerland after keeping his cool to win the sixth stage here on Thursday.
Kirchen showed his strength and composure in the tough Verbier climb, [...]
Giro winner Contador ready for Olympics
MADRID, June 17, 2008 (AFP) – Spain’s recently-crowned Tour of Italy champion Alberto Contador has said he wants to compete in the Beijing Olympics.
“The next objective is the Olympic Games,” he told Spanish public television late Monday.
Contador said he wants to [...]
Levi Leipheimer held on to his 3th place on the final podium of the Dauphiné Libéré. The whole team performed well and defended with success its first place in the ProTour Team Classification. Astana Cycling Team leads with 110 points. Team CSC is second, 17 points behind, Caisse d’Epargne third, 18 points behind.
While Andreas [...]
AVIGNON, France, June 7, 2008 (AFP) – Astana have watered down pre-race predictions that their team leader for the Dauphine Libere, Levi Leipheimer, will emerge triumphant after a week of tough racing in the Alps.
Traditionally a warm-up for July’s Tour de France, the hilly week-long race kicks off [...]
Astana Cycling Team, with Team Director Alain Gallopin, comes with a strong team to the 60th Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré to defend its first place in the ProTour Team Classification. On the menu: a prologue, two flat stages, an individual time trial and, at the end, three difficult stages in the Alps (Col du Joux-Plane [...]
Three days after capturing the 91st Giro d’Italia title, Alberto Contador gets his deserved rest. The last days were well filled with celebrations.
At a press meeting in Pinto, he was quick to react regarding the definite position of ASO excluding Astana Cycling Team from participation in this year’s Tour de France. “Honestly, [...]
by Justin Davis
PARIS, May 5, 2008 (AFP) – Spaniard Alberto Contador and his Astana team have admitted to being in a race against time as they prepare for the first three-week race of the cycling season.
Giro d’Italia organizers performed a dramatic u-turn on Sunday and invited [...]
One week prior to the start of the Giro d’Italia (May 10th-June 1st), the Astana Cycling Team has received an invitation to participate in the first Grand Tour of 2008. The race organizer, RCS, changed their original February decision, which stated that the Team was not planning on bringing a “motivated” team. The [...]
ROME, May 4, 2008 (AFP) – Giro d’Italia organizers have performed a dramatic u-turn and invited the Kazakh-backed Astana cycling team to this year’s race, Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport on Sunday reported organizers as saying.
“Yes, I have invited Contador,” the Gazzetta quoted race organizer Angelo Zomegnan [...]
This is excellent news for Astana. We at Bicycle.net would be thrilled to see Astana at the Giro. Anything that increases the level of competition is good for cycling.
PARIS, May 3, 2008 (AFP) – Giro d’Italia organizers could perform a dramatic u-turn and invite the Kazakh-backed Astana cycling team to [...]
ROME, April 8, 2008 (AFP) – Eddy Mazzoleni, third in last year’s Tour of Italy (Giro d’Italia), has been handed a two-year ban by the Italian Cycling Federation (FCI) for his involvement in the “Oil for Drug” affair, the FCI said on Tuesday.
The FCI also banned 28-year-old former Ceramica [...]
Pasadena, Calif. (Feb. 24, 2008) Michael Creed’s extraordinary ride Sunday capped an impressive performance for Rock Racing at the Amgen Tour of California.
Attacking from the start of the 93-mile (150 km) stage, Creed played an instrumental role in a pair of breakaways that stayed clear of the peloton on a rain-soaked, bone-chilling ride from Santa [...]
Enjoy the Bicycle.Net podcast Stage 7 edition with our host, David Bernstein of The FredCast Cycling Podcast.
Preview of Today’s Stage 7
Interviews with:
Mark Cavendish, Team High Road
Bob Stapleton, Team High Road
Freddie Rodgriguez, Rock Racing
Chris Horner, Astana
Jose Luis ‘Chechu’ Rubiera, Astana
Scott Nydam, BMC
Michael Creed, Rock Racing
Summary of the Day’s Racing Action
Final Standings
Post-race Interview with Michael Creed
Press Conference [...]
VeloGuy spent the end of the race sitting in the finishing shoot with camera in hand watching for the leaders to cross the finish line. Sitting next to him was a Rabobank team member. The Rabobank team member told our reporter that Leipheimer and Gesink agreed to work together rather than against themselves [...]
Stage One. Sausalito to Santa Rosa. Jackson Stewart fighting, Hincapie crashing, Haedo winning. Today’s race had it all. So what does tomorrow look like. Listen to David Bernstein of The FredCast Cycling Podcast as he brings you Bicycle.Net’s exclusive in depth audio coverage of the Tour of California.
Here’s the [...]
Bicycle.Net Tour of California Podcast - Stage 1 Edition [30:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadSunday’s Prologue to the Amgen Tour of California, was a warm beautiful day, great crowds and tons of excitement. Listen here to Bicycle.Net’s podcast wrapup, with our host David Bernstein of The FredCast Cycling Podcast
Preview of Today’s Stage
Summary of the Day’s Racing Action
Interview with Phil Liggett
For more great audio, check out our [...]
Bicycle.Net Tour of California Podcast - Prologue Edition [18:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadBicycle.net this year is thrilled to bring you fantastic exclusive interviews and podcasts. Here are some thoughts on what this year’s Tour of California is going to bring you.
For more great audio, check out our host David Bernstein at The FredCast cycling podcast (The Fredcast.com).
Astana and the ASO – An opinion piece by bicycle.net
It goes without saying that every organization is entitled to set their own standards and practices, and the ASO is no exception. With today’s news that the ASO has chosen to exclude Astana from all of the races that they promote this year, we must [...]
Kloeden furious at Astana’s Tour rejection
by Ryland James
BERLIN, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) – German cyclist Andreas Kloeden has reacted angrily to the news his Astana team – including reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador – have been barred from competing in this year’srace.
On Wednesday, Astana were officially barred from the [...]
Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning “separation” or “being apart”.
[SATIRE... sort of]
Is it now accurate to use apartheid to describe a policy that exists in France in the latter 20th and early 21st centuries? This system is used to mistreat and deny opportunity to superior non-French cyclists. The ASO allowed the French minority to [...]
Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer Astana kicked out of Tour de France
PARIS, Feb 13, 2008 (AFP) – The Astana team of reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador have been barred from competing in this year’s race as a result of doping scandals over the past two years, organisers confirmed on Wednesday.
ASO (Amaury [...]