WorldTour ranking: fifth (up from tenth)
Win count: 34 (up from 24)
Top riders: Fabio Aru (fifth), Vincenzo Nibali (19th), Mikel Landa (34th), Lars Boom (45th), Jakob Fuglsang (63rd)
The Astana team began 2015 under suspicion and under fire as a consequence of the doping cases that hit the team in 2014 and the UCI’s attempt to refuse the Kazakh team a WorldTour licence. In December, UCI President Brian Cookson told Cyclingnews that Astana was “drinking in the last chance saloon” but the team managed to hold onto its licence and even ended the season with 34 victories, including Fabio Aru’s overall success at the Vuelta a Espana.
However, Astana’s road to redemption during 2015 has been littered with incidents and mishaps and is far from over. Vincenzo Nibali’s explusion from the Vuelta a Espana for holding into a team car caused further embarrassment and raised questions about the ethics of the Kazakh team. Nibali only avoided further criticism for his poor season and cheating by winning Il Lombardia. The team staff seemed to accept and satisfy the so-called 'cahier des charges' introduced by the UCI and checked by the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL) but Dmitriy Sedoun remains a directeur sportif despite being the manager of the Astana Continental team in 2014 when three riders tested positive.
ADVERTISEMENT
Success helped cover up the cracks at Astana, as it does in so many other teams, and Astana performed well out on the road in 2015, often responding to their detractors with impressive results.
Rein Taaramäe kicked off Astana’s victory list, winning the Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia on Valentines Day. Andrea Guardini then won four stages at the Tour de Langkawi in March, helping to keep the pressure off Nibali and Aru who struggled at Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice. Lars Boom finished sixth in the Tour of Flanders and sixth at Paris-Roubaix but these results were largely overlooked as Astana's fight to save its WorldTour licence continued. Their hiring of expensive lawyers eventually proved worthwhile on April 23 when the Licence Commission decided in their favour, saying the withdrawal of their licence “would not respect the principle of proportionality”. It was an embarrassing decision for the UCI and perhaps Astana’s biggest victory of the year.
The start of the Giro d’Italia marked a turning point in Aru’s season after he pulled out of the Giro del Trentino at the last minute due to a stomach virus. He was worried it would hinder his form but Astana finished third in the opening team time trial and was immediately aggressive as they tried to crack Contador. The Spaniard crashed and hurt his shoulder on stage six but it was Aru who suffered in the rain and cold in the Apennines and lost more than two minutes and the pink jersey in the 59km to Valdobbiadene. He also suffered on the stage over the Mortirolo and was unable to take advantage of Contador’s mysterious bike change and chase, finishing a further two minutes back. Landa was arguably the stronger rider in the Astana team at this point but the team continued to back Aru.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://ift.tt/1RUk0ND
No comments:
Post a Comment