Astana to ride the Giro

grampi

You are right Wayne. But from what I heard, selection was not a small factor. I would say if astana hadnt offered top stars, Zoegnan wouldnt have changed his first decision about not bringing astana to his tour.

However its funny to see how everyone from Astana is shaking their head in disbelive because of this late call. They are lying just everytime they get their opportunity..

whiteboytrash

Yes Alberto on holidays in Spain.... yeh right.... he's withdrawing blood..

RdBiker

The competition at the Tour for the podium wasn't maybe as tough as in the previous years but the guys were still better than the best guys in the Giro. I was comparing Contador and Di Luca and stated that Di Luca isn't good enough to win the Tour but fares well in the Giro since the competition is a bit easier. The fact that Di Luca hasn't taken part in the TdF already states something.

So I won't be surprised if Contador finishes in the top 10 but I will be if he wins. I hope they make him ride as a support for Klöden but it is wise to have as many options as you can though (remember Astana riding only for Vino in the Tour)

__________________
It never gets easier, you just go faster
Oton ATK Sandisk Mp3-soittimet ja Koss kuulokkeet

grampi

I am quoting Brajkovic( during Murcia tour 5. march): We will ride Giro. Its a secret for now, but we have guaranteed place in the race. The source is former pro and Brajkovics friend..

I am very confident that at least one of the trio( LL, A.C., AK) is at peak right now. It doesnt really matter who, because even Leipheimer beats Simonis on Bruyneels gear.

RdBiker

Yes he was on holiday with his personal doctor and his preparation wasn't yet complete...

__________________
It never gets easier, you just go faster
Oton ATK Sandisk Mp3-soittimet ja Koss kuulokkeet

hawkeye87

I am going to ask what could be considered an ignorant question so please bear with me.

If Alberto (or anyone) would draw blood now, wouldn't that actually hurt them, initially, in the Giro?

I would assume the intent would be to use a rest day to pump it back in.

What is the shelf life of your blood? 6-8 weeks, right?

Would the timing be good, then, for Alberto to have the draw?

__________________

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." -- Wayne Gretzsky

Crankyfeet

I thought the shelf life was much longer now that they use very cold refrigeration. Over a year even.

Wayne666

The issue would be enough time for the body to restore the normal amount of red blood cells. I don't know for sure but would think this is too late, but it appears the idea that Astana really just discovered out of the blue that they were riding might not be exactly right either.

How long before the Tour is the Dauphine? Hasn't there been talk in the past about riders dogging it there because of extractions but then flying by Tour time?

Crockett

Last year's TdF was missing so many top guys by the time they hit Paris. Vino, Kloden, Rasmussen, Menchov, etc.

Interesting to look at the lists from 2004 and 2005. Leipheimer came 9th- 1 through 7 weren't in the race at the end of 2007, only Sastre who came in 8th in 04 finished in 07. In 2005, Leipheimer was 6th, 1 through 5 didn't finish in 2007. Even 06, Leipheimer's worst year, only Pereiro, Sastre, Evans, Moreau, Zubeldia, and Schleck topped Levi.

So I'd say 2007 had the weakest finishing field, and if a rider was to podium once, that was the year to do it. Levi won't do it again.

Rolfrae

Lionel Birnie in Cycling Weekly sums up how I feel about Astana at the Giro.

article below:
Tuesday 6th May 2008 - Lionel Birnie

Forgive me but my interest in this year's Giro d'Italia has just dropped through the floor.

The fans of Astana and Johan Bruyneel may well rejoice at the chance to see Alberto Contador, Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer race in one of the grand tours.

But the last thing the Giro needs is an Astana-led procession.

The last-minute change of heart by the Giro's organiser, RCS, threatens the credibility of the race.

And, if we're being honest, the credibility of the Giro doesn't need another jolt.

The past two years have seen super-hard routes, back-loaded with insanely difficult mountain stages in the final week, descend into farce.

If it was a bit perplexing then, reflected on now, the 2006 race looks like a complete joke. Ivan Basso won it by more than nine minutes, exuding the aura of the greatest mountain climber ever born. Three weeks later he was prevented from starting the Tour de France when his links to Dr Eufamiano Fuentes were uncovered. Basso gave it the whole 'I made a few plans to dope but didn't actually do it' line but nevertheless took his punishment without complaint.

Runner-up was a man they nicknamed the buffalo because he was a lumbering beast. Yet Jose Enrique Gutierrez – who rode for Phonak (stop sniggering at the back, it gets better) – managed to follow Basso over the mountains and finished second, albeit a distant second.

His name, too, was in Fuentes' filofax of doom and he was 'withdrawn from racing' by Phonak. He wasn't sacked or suspended, he was just handed the rough end of a catchy euphemism.

Phonak's summer got worse when Floyd Landis failed a dope test at the Tour and the sponsor pulled out.

So the first two in the race had rather large question marks over them and third placed Gilberto Simoni was not slow in airing his concerns about them.

Last year, Danilo Di Luca, he of the child-like hormone values, won.

What? Don't be so cynical. He just loves mineral water, drank loads of it to rehydrate and his hormones went all funny. These things can happen.

In the face of an investigation into Di Luca's association with a banned doctor, Carlo Santuccione, the Liquigas rider was prevented from putting the seal on what would have been a second ProTour victory when he was stopped from riding the Tour of Lombardy.

Then he was banned for three months – a totally pointless gesture as it ran concurrently with the off-season, so unless Di Luca fancied a crack at the Six-Days or some cyclo-cross it was no punishment at all.

Liquigas did not renew his contract – odd considering they've now signed Basso. Di Luca found salvation at team LPR Brakes and will fancy his chances of the podium again, no doubt, despite Astana's stellar squad catapulting into the line-up.

Angelo Zomegnan, the race organiser, insisted back in February that Astana's exclusion had nothing to do with the team's murky past.

Last year Astana's Eddy Mazzoleni nearly made a monkey of the Giro. Ivan Basso's brother-in-law got on the podium. It was his last professional result before being suspended as part of the Oil for Drugs investigation. He was given a two-year suspension but decided, at the age of 34, to retire.

It wasn't that which irked Zomegnan. Instead he took exception to the fact that Bruyneel planned to send only Janez Brajkovic as the team leader. The 24-year-old Slovenian led the Vuelta briefly in 2006 and is touted as a future grand tour star.

Unimpressed, Zomegnan wanted at least one of the big three – Contador, Leipheimer or Kloden – to race. Now they're all coming.

At the time Bruyneel touted Brajkovic as the probable Giro leader, Astana did not know their invite to the Tour de France was to be lost in the post. Permanently.

Since then the behind-the-scenes lobbying of the Giro organisers must have been powerful. For the small NGC team to give up its golden ticket, a considerable compensation package must have been offered. Or perhaps they were invited to Kazakhstan to 'see the sights' if you get what I mean.

Some may ask why both teams can't race. Well, there are rules regarding the maximum size of a field in a grand tour and having a 23rd team would bust that. Also, all the hotels have been booked for months in advance. Finding room for another team at this late stage would be a logistical nightmare – far easier to swap one team for another.

As a spectacle, though, the last thing the Giro needs is an Astana-led dominance like the one we saw at the Dauphiné Libéré last year. Total domination of an event by one team or rider is not an attractive spectacle.

However, total dominance is not a given. Contador has recently had major dental surgery and was on holiday when the call came. Leipheimer travelled to Italy from the United States at the weekend. Only Kloden has been racing seriously, and he won the Tour of Romandie.

But don't be mistaken. Astana will be ready. Bruyneel would not have discounted the possibility of a reprieve from the Giro and would have been planning accordingly. Astana's big three may not be at their peak but they will be ready.

One thing is for sure. The Giro's U-turn does not indicate that ASO is about to do the same.

As for the Giro, let's hope that the race is a credible event and that questions about Operacion Puerto, Freiburg and the like do not cast a long and ugly shadow.

And what happened to the buffalo? Well, as foreign riders found their careers halted by Operacion Puerto, the Spaniards carried on regardless and Gutierrez found a team for 2007. LPR Brakes.

This year he found himself surplus to requirements and out of a job as LPR signed Di Luca. Funny how it all works, isn't it.

poulidor

Probably RCS want to avoid to make precedent by excluding teams with dirty past like Astana. Why ? Because a lot of Italian teams are under the threat of some old affairs...

__________________
Let Astana and McQuaid whine !

limerickman

Very good piece - thanks for posting it.

__________________
.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets" - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

musette

Today, the Giro, after Kloden won Romandie.

In July, the Tour, after one of the Astana riders wins the Giro!

This is a great outcome. We'll see how Simoni fares when he is against the three Astana leaders working together. And work together they will. Because apart from Bruyneel telling them what to do, each of them knows that the best way to increase the team's chances of a Tour spot (which each of them wants) is to have any of them win the Giro.

beached whale

Contador's view of his form for the Giro. Sure doesn't sound overly confident.
http://www.as.com/ciclismo/articulo...dasdaicic_1/Tes