Astana in trouble
The future of the Kazakh WorldTeam is in doubt. Team Manager Alexandre Vinokourov revealed to Vesti.kz that the situation is critical and the continuation of the team for next year should be not taken for granted. “We’re going to races with our own savings, the lads haven’t received their salaries. There are 30 riders under contract, we have obligations to them. There are more than 50 people if you add in all the staff, including trainers, masseurs, doctors and mechanics. All this would inevitably lead to the closure of the project after 13 years” says Vinokourov, underlining how delicate is the situation that Astana in facing.
Valverde is up to ride until 2020
Alejandro Valverde is not willing to retire shortly. The Spaniard, who will target the World Champs in Innsbruck, wants to be part of the peloton at least until 2019, but does not exclude to ride also in 2020, dreaming of an Olympic medal. “I’m still the one you used to know. I will respect the contract which binds me to Movistar until 2019, but if things go well I will race for another season. In 2020 I will be 40 years old and that will be an Olympic year, with the Tokyo Games. It would be a nice brooch to put on my chest a medal…”, says Valverde.