Astana Cycling Team hasinformed about the signing of 2-years contracts with four new riders.
In 2017, the following riders will join the Kazakhstan team:
Oscar Gatto is a 31-year old Italian rider specializing in classic races. Among his fourteen wins, the most significant is the Dwars door Vlaanderen win (2013) as well as wins at the Giro d’Italia (2011) and Tour of Austria (2014). In ten years of his career, Oscar Gatto has participated in 11 Grand Tours.
Michael Valgren is a 24-year old Danish rider; he is a double winner of the U23 version of the oldest one-day classic race Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2013, 2012). He is also a double winner of the Tour of Denmark, the last of which finished just yesterday on July 31, 2016. This year, he also finished on the podium at one of the prestigious spring classics, Amstel Gold Race where he was second. In six year-career, Valgren has participated in three Grand Tours, including the recent Tour de France.
Jesper Hansen is a 25-year old Danish rider specializing in mountain races. Being a good mountain domestique working for leaders, Hansen is also a winner of a stage and overall ranking in the Tour of Norway (2015). In 2016, he has finished on the podium of the Tour of Croatia where he was second in the general classification of the race.
Moreno Moser is a 25-year old nephew of famous Italian rider Francesco Moser - one of the best bike riders of the mid-70s and 80s. Today, the young rider has seven professional wins, including Tour of Poland (2012), where he won two stages apart from overall ranking, Strade Bianche (2013) and others.
“This year, we have signed four new riders. Oscar Gatto is an excellent classics rider and finisher. He is an experienced rider who will help and teach our Alexey Lutsenko. We have also strengthened the team for the classics with Michael Valgren who also has big experience of riding in such races and had won at various times. We have also signed a young mountain rider Jesper Hansen who will help our Aru in mountain stages of marathon cycling races. Moreno Moser is a good “motor”, he has big potential and I’m sure that he will progress in our team. We will make him a good rider for week-long stage races like Paris-Nice as well as the classics. As we remember, he was good on stages of the Giro this year and he has potential for growth," commented General Manager of the team Alexander Vinokurov.
Jorge CASTELBLANCO 36 years | today |
Jose Antonio GIMENEZ DIAS 47 years | today |
Serge JOOS 40 years | today |
Heinrich BERGER 39 years | today |
Rolando AMARGO 28 years | today |
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