Astana News: Tour de Suisse Performances Put Astana Atop ProTour

Astana continues to add to its case that it’s the best cycling team in the world, putting in three appearances on the Tour de Suisse’s final podium: Andreas Klöden, on his 33rd birthday, finished second overall;. Kazakh champion Maxim Iglinskiy took home the King of the Mountains pink jersey; and the Astana Cycling Team won the overall Team Classification.

“Honestly, this is more than I expected,” said Andreas Klöden. “After my illness in the Giro d'Italia, I started this race without real preparation. The bad weather in the first days did not help me, but I survived. Two times I lost about twenty seconds. It could have made the difference, but I won't complain.”

Maxim Iglinskiy was happy as well with his KOM jersey. “It was close. I had to sprint for it on the last climb of this Tour de Suisse. The team believed in me, and they worked for me today. For me, this jersey is a nice reward for my many attacks. Nobody can say that my national Kazakh jersey passed unnoticed through the peloton this season.”

Astana Cycling Team won the Teams Classification. Team CSC was second and Gerolsteiner third. It is the fourth time this season that Astana Cycling Team has won the Team Classification in a stage race.

Team Director Viatcheslav Ekimov was delighted about the performances of the team. “Don't forget that we lost two riders in the beginning of this Tour the Suisse, and (after a crash in the last 10 K of the race) Gregory Rast as well, but we still managed to end this race in first position. Not unimportant for us is that we consolidate our lead in the ProTour Team Classification. An overall victory for Andreas Klöden would have been possible if he would have been better in the first days. He was really impressive in the last stages, it was just too late, but we are very happy.”

The Astana Pro Cycling Team relies on the proven technology of Trek OCLV Carbon to provide them with the lightest, fastest, and best handling bikes in the pro peloton. Handcrafted in Waterloo, Wisconsin for over 16 years, from the original OCLV 5500 created in 1992 to the exhilarating Madone and wind-defying Equinox TTX, Trek’s OCLV Carbon enjoys a rich heritage of victory.

As they contest the world’s most demanding cycling events, the Astana team rides the versatile Madone for all-around workhorse duties, including mountain stages. For timed events, Astana riders slip through the wind aboard the Equinox TTX. A full arsenal of Bontrager components, including stems, handlebars, saddles, and wheelsets, completes the high-performance package.

Because of Trek’s “race what we sell” philosophy, the same bikes used by the Astana team are also available at your local Trek Dealer.