Tanel Kangert has told PEZ Cycling that he wants to be a part of the Astana Giro d’Italia squad and he spoke about what it was like helping Vincenzo Nibali win the Tour de France.

When asked if he thought there was a difference between riding the Tour and the other Grand Tour, the Estonian said the differences were only slight.

“It was (different), but maybe I wasn’t taking it serious enough because I think the race and the racing is the same. It doesn’t matter if you do the Tour, Giro or the Vuelta, the riders are the same. The only small difference you notice is that the average speed is a little higher and the riders want to race giving more and they are in better shape, but I don’t notice any difference between riding the Tour or the Giro or Vuelta.”

Kangert knows what it is like to defend a leaders jersey, having successfully done so with Nibali in the 2013 Giro, an experience that he thinks massively helped him at the Tour de France this time around.

“I think I was lucky to have the experience of having protecting a leaders jersey years before, because he won the Giro and we also defended the jersey in la Vuelta for more that two weeks the year before. So I already knew what it was going to be like and he was so impressive in the Tour, it took a lot of pressure of us.”

Kangert spoke about the cobbled stage in the Tour and, surpsrongly for a climber, said he was in favour of a cobbled stage in every Tour de France, rather than once every few years.

“I don’t see why not if it’s done reasonably, if they find a place in the course to put it and it’s not too long and the cobbled section were like last year, then why not. Maybe not every year, it shouldn’t be an obligation for the organizers to put a section of cobbles in. I’m not the type of rider who likes cobbles, but I think it was the right thing to do and it looked good and everyone enjoyed it. For me as a rider; when the Tour arrived at that point it was good just to see how to race on cobbles and how to do it fast.”

Rein Taaramae, another Estonian, who is the same age as Kangert and comes from the same town, will join Kangert’s Astana team next year. The two are great friends and Kangert says there is no rivalry between the two men.

“Some people want to see a rivalry between us, but first of all we are friends. Sometimes they compare us, but it something we have to live with and we also have our different characters and so our fans are not the same people. We grew up together, went to the same kindergarten. But we went to different teams in France as amateurs and then he went to Cofidis. Just because we are from the same town doesn’t mean we are chatting all the time, we are best mates, but not all the time.”

It will be nice for Kangert to have a countryman with him next year, as Astana is made up primarily of riders from the nations of Kazakhstan and Italy. He reiterated what ex-teammate Enrico Gasparotto said, that he was always professional with the Kazakhs, but it was difficult to make friends with them.

“We get along, but there is always some kind of language barrier, that makes it a little bit more difficult to make friends. Maybe for me and Rein the good thing is that we are also coming from the former Eastern Block, so maybe they take us as one of them.”

He enjoys the strong Italian influence on the Astana team, particularly from Nibali and team manager Giuseppe Martinelli.

“You can definitely feel the influence of Italian cycling and I think the directors and the people who work for us they have the experience to really lead a good team; they really know how things work. Like Martinelli knows all the races, he knows all the climbs and practically 90% he will know how the race will go. So this is something you cannot know unless you have a lot of experience. Martinelli knew the time to go on stage 2 to get yellow and hold it for caravan position on pavé day. Having car one on pavé day and using four pairs of eyes to call out gaps and spot the gap to contador. For bringing Lieuwe Westra back and then springing him on the antagonism between Cancellara and Sagan. Knowing they would cancel out, knowing Boom would earn his victory. Vincenzo tried to take him on the last sector, and Lars made a fair showing that he would honor the champion’s attempt.”

Kangert is not just a domestique, and Astana gave him a chance to lead the team at the Vuelta a Espana. But he got sick and the mantle was passed to young Fabio Aru, who recorded fifth on GC and two great stage wins. He isn’t even 30 yet, but Kangert is already thinking about his future and even what life will be like after the bike.

“Year by year, not each year as I have a two year contract, but I still think a lot about the future and the life after cycling, OK it’s a little early yet, but I have to think about it. Right now I just want to enjoy riding my bike and help the others and hope the spectators are enjoying the racing, we are there for them. We cannot think we are there just racing against each other, because it has to be fun to watch and I really hope now that we can really regain the trust of the public that we have lost completely in the last few months. I don’t like the position where we are now, we have to start from zero and to be honest I don’t know how we can really regain the trust. The only way I can see how I can help is by winning races and go to the doping control right after the race and nobody should have any suspicion any more. This is the only way we can do it.”

He isn’t happy that the whole team has been branded as dopers because of the mistakes of others, such as the Iglinskiy brothers.

“I read yesterday in somewhere (a cycling website) there was a long interview, nobody would even dare to put their name on it, and the way the questions were written like already, automatically, whatever the question was; “all the Astana guys are positive,” but what about the other guys? OK someone in the team made a mistake and you have to pay and we are paying now, but sometimes the price is too high. Definitely that website has something against someone in the team. But it’s not fair for the smaller riders like me, now automatically we are all bad riders for the fact that we wear these colors.”

“It’s made to look like it is only Astana, all about the money laundering and dozens of names, ten different names or maybe more. The only one that they pointed at is us. I don’t want to blame others, but it’s not only the problem of one team. Look at the past, how many teams have had problems? I’m not trying to say we don’t deserve a punishment, or that we have done everything right in the past. But if people ask me if I am still happy to be here, I am, because the team gave me the chance, they gave the bike, the good program, the good races, they believe in me, even when I wasn’t superbly good in the first year, they still had trust in me and never put me in a race I didn’t want to be in and took care of me. I cannot point out one thing they have done wrong with me. I’m not someone who is having a Stockholm syndrome or something.”

Many assumed that the UCI potentially denying Astana a WorldTour licence would hurt the riders and make them lose focus, but Kangert said that on their recent camp, morale didn’t drop and all the riders remained focused on their 2015 season.

“I haven’t noticed a difference in the rider’s moods; we are still focusing on next year. Personally I wasn’t thinking too much about the UCI license, I leave that to the directors and the team staff to think of those things.”