Astana Pro Team General Manager Alexandr Vinokurov said the squad is ready for the upcoming Tour de France, and pointed to Jakob Fuglsang and Alexey Lutsenko as the key protagonists for July.
“Fuglsang is stepping in to the role of Captain for the first time, as he has always worked as a gregario for others in past Tours. He’s ready, the good result at the Dauphine showed that, and a best-case scenario for him will be to stick with the leaders into the third week and come to Paris with a strong top ten placement, maybe higher. The team is built around him, in the same manner that we built a team around Nibali at the Giro, and Jakob is very motivated to rise to the occasion,” Vinokurov said.
Astana Pro Team rider Alexey Lutsenko, who won the U23 World Championship road race in Limburg last year, will make his Grand Tour debut on Saturday at the Tour de France, and Vinokurov said the experience will be unforgettable for the 20-year old.
“Lutsenko was a subject of great discussion among the Astana staff. On the one hand, he is very young. On the other hand, he’s a very strong young rider, and has shown all season that he has the ability to race at the front at the highest level. As Andrei Grivko crashed and broke his wrist in training, this opens up the opportunity to place Lutsenko into his first ever Tour de France. His goal will be to help the team, gain experience and survive the first week to go for a stage,” Vinokurov said.
Astana Pro Team will send two experienced Italian riders to Corsica for the Tour de France, 2012 Amstel Gold Race winner Enrico Gasparotto and 2012 Tour of Beijing stage winner Francesco Gavazzi. Vinokurov said they will be at Fuglsang’s side into the mountains, and then look to stage opportunities as the race matures.
“We have had a lot of second place finishes this season, maybe 20, and with Gaspa and Gava our goal is to go after the top step on the podium. Most likely the best opportunity will come in the second and third weeks of the race, when the GC is settled down and the peloton is tired. But who knows, the second and third stages in Corsica might be good for either of these guys as well,” Vinokurov said.
Kazakhstan will send four athletes to the Tour de France, and joining Lutsenko will be Andrey Kashechkin, Dmitri Muravyev and Assan Bazayev.
“Kashechkin and Muravyev have deep experience in Grand Tours, and they can help Fuglsang in the first weeks as well as offer protection from the peloton and the wind once we leave the Pyrenees. Dmitriy knows how to ride the echelons, and Andrey can cover in the mountains, two things we will need in July,” Vinokurov said.
Joining up in the Alps with Fuglsang will be the main goal of Slovenian rider Janez Brajkovic and Swedish rider Fredrik Kessiakoff, and Vinokurov said the two super-lieutenants are ready for the Tour de France.
“Brajkovic is Fuglsang’s right hand man, the last one with him in the hard, hard stages up into the Alps. Kessiakoff is always strong in July, and when he is motivated and has his fitness he is capable of going deep for the team. These two riders will be the ones we see in the final hour in the mountains, and for Fuglsang they are his two greatest assets in the third week,” Vinokurov said.
Astana Pro Team rider Assan Bazayev fell heavily in training, sustaining heavy abrasions and lacerations to his face and legs in a high-speed downhill crash. But Vinokurov said the former Kazakh National Champion was up and training the next day, and remains on track to start his first-ever Tour de France.
“Bad luck, that’s what happened to us in Tenerife. We lost Grivko, we got really scared about Fuglsang, but the guy who suffered probably the most was Bazayev, and you can see it on his face. Now he’s feeling better, he’s very motivated to start his first Tour de France, and he takes his responsibility as a professional cyclist and as an ambassador for Kazakhstan cycling very seriously. The first week will be hard for him, like it is for everybody. But he can get through it, and then in the second and third week we will see him in a breakaway, fighting for a stage win, showing how strong and how tough he can be,” Vinokurov said.
