Astana on top on both sides of the Atlantic
30/04/2009

The road cycling world is currently fascinated with the build up to the first Grand Tour of the year, the Giro d' Italia, which starts on May 9th in Venice. The Astana team will be at the Giro in force with the aim of defending the title they won with Alberto Contador last year. Although Contador will not be racing, the team has other strong racer's in Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden and Lance Armstrong, who will be riding in the Giro for the first time in his career.

As part of the preparations for the Giro, the team has been competing in various race's in Europe. Currently Astana team riders are participating in the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland, where the first stage was completed last night. Astana rider Gregory Rast was part of a 3 man breakaway that was away for the majority of the race. He worked hard to keep the breakaway clear, but missed th stage win. His compensation, however, came in the form of the leaders jersey, since he finsihed ahead of his fellow break riders in the previous days Prologue ITT. It will be a hard week of racing in the mountains of Switzerland, and Astana will be treating it as more of a lead up to the Giro, but look for Astana to be defending the leaders jersey in the next few days.

Meanwhile, back in New Mexico, Astana team riders Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and Lance Armstrong are riding in the Tour of the Gila. There was some doubt about if they would be allowed to ride or not, due to a UCI rule that prohibits Pro-Tour teams competing in non-Pro-Tour races. However, the riders are allowed to compete if there are no more than 3 from the team, and they ride in non-Pro-Tour team kit. Hence the three will be riding in kit from Lance Armstrongs store in Austin, Mellow Johnny's.

The first stage ended in a climb, and Levi Leipheimer was able to ride away form the rest of the lead group to take the win. Read about the rest of the stage at Velo News. Thanks also to Velo News for the photo.

Keep checking back for more news on how the Team goes in their Giro preparations.