With Enrico Gasparotto in the front group and Vincenzo Nibali in the chase group, Astana had two cards to play in Tre Valli Varesine. However, both riders crashed in the same slippery turn on the final lap and left the Kazalh team empty-handed.

“With two riders in the finale and just 7km to go, we had an optimal situation, but with the crash we can only consider it a lost opportunity," sports director Paolo Slongo said after Tre Valli Varesine, a one-day Italian circuit race north of Milano.

Enrico Gasparotto and Vincenzo Nibali were successful in finding their way into the two front groups on the final lap of a wet, hilly day, and by all appearances was tactically in a good position at the end of the race. But Gasparotto slipped first on a corner and later Nibali went down in the same spot. They could only watch as their fellow escapees rode off without them to the finish.

Neither Astana Pro Team rider was seriously injured, though Nibali withdrew from the race, and Gasparotto went on to finish ninth.

Thursday’s race was the third and final of the three one-day races that go into Italy’s Trittico Lombardo.

On Saturday Nibali will change jerseys to race for the Italian National Squad, with recent Vuelta a España double-stage winner Fabio Aru joining him on Sunday in the final test before next week’s World Championship road race in Spain.