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PARIS, April 30, 2013 (AFP) - Cycling's Astana team believe they can win the forthcoming Tour of Italy, which starts in Naples on Saturday with their in-form team leader Vincenzo Nibali. The Sicilian-born rider, already a winner of one of the other main tours, Spain's Vuelta, was tipped for success in the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday by the Kazakh cycling federation-backed outfit's … [Read more...]
TALLINN, Nov 19, 2012 (AFP) - Estonian cyclist Jan Kirsipuu, the Baltic state's most successful rider, is quitting the saddle and joining Kazakh team Astana as sporting director. "My task will be technical support and coordinating team-work during races. I know the Astana team and that helped me get the job," the 43-year-old told Estonian public broadcaster ERR on Monday. He said … [Read more...]
PARIS, Aug 3, 2012 - Italy's Vincenzo Nibali, who finished third in this year's Tour de France, will ride for Astana in 2013 and 2014, the Kazakh team announced on Friday. The 27-year-old, the 2010 Tour de Spain winner, currently rides with the Liquigas team. He also finished twice on the podium in the Tour of Italy -- third in 2010 and second in 2011. Compatriot and teammate … [Read more...]
PARIS, June 22, 2012 (AFP) - Veteran rider Alexandre Vinokourov will lead the Astana team into the Tour de France with Slovenia's Janez Brajkovic expected to push for honors in the overall standings. Vinokourov, 38, will be racing in the Tour for the last time having fallen and suffered a thigh fracture in 2011, but he believes he can still clinch a stage on the grueling race which begins … [Read more...]
by Justin Davis LIEGE, Belgium, April 23, 2012 (AFP) - Belgium's Tom Boonen emerged as the king of the spring classics, which ended Sunday, with victory in Ghent-Wevelgem, the Tour of Flanders and a record-equaling fourth win at Paris-Roubaix. Two weeks after Boonen's blistering start to the season, however, Kazakh team Astana stole a share of the spotlight when Maxim Iglinskiy … [Read more...]
PARIS, Aug 17, 2011 (AFP) - Kazkah rider Andrey Kashechkin will head up the Astana team's challenge in the final major Tour race of the season, the Tour of Spain, which gets underway with a team time-trial on Saturday in Benidorm. Giuseppe Martinelli eulogised about Kashechkin, who was third in the 2006 Vuelta before being found to have indulged in blood doping the following year which … [Read more...]
PARIS, Aug 4, 2011 (AFP) - Kazakhstan's Andrey Kashechkin announced Thursday he would race the Tour of Spain this month with former team Astana, with whom he has signed a deal until the end of 2013. Kashechkin finished third overall in the 2006 Tour of Spain while racing for Astana, but was handed a ban from the sport a year later after a random drugs test proved positive for blood … [Read more...]
saint-flour, France, July 10, 2011 (AFP) - Alexandre Vinokourov's career appears to have come to a premature end after the Kazakhstan cycling star crashed out of the Tour de France on Sunday. Vinokourov, who had been hoping to achieve his dream of pulling on the yellow jersey for the first time in what was to be his eighth and final Tour de France, was among several riders to crash out on the … [Read more...]
Former winner and the only rider to have competed in every edition of the Santos Tour Down Under, Allan Davis, is the latest big name to confirm his participation for the race in January 2011. “We are thrilled that Alby is returning to Adelaide to compete in the 2011 Santos Tour Down Under with his team Astana,” says Race Director, Mike Turtur. The 30-year old Queenslander, who is also … [Read more...]
Kazakh leaders are happy and proud to announce that the American brand of bicycles Specialized committed again with their team for the 2011 season. This proof of confidence confirms the quality of Astana squad around its leader Alexandre Vinokourov and the great hope Czech Roman Kreuziger. This commitment is the result of close collaboration that began in 2010 and will continue with the same … [Read more...]