Astana News: Trek, Astana Rack-up National Championship Wins

Racing aboard Trek bicycles, five Astana riders captured national championships this past weekend. Russia's Vladimir Gusev got things started on Friday, winning the 39-kilometer Russian time trial aboard an Equinox TTX and taking his third national champion’s jersey. Saturday brought a trio of champions to Trek and Astana, with Tomas Vaitkus winning the Lithuanian road race title (for the second time in his career, 2004 and 2008), Sergio Paulinho capturing the Portuguese time trial victory (for the third time in his career, 1999 U23, 2004, and 2008), and Assan Bazayev racing his Madone to victory in the 170-kilometer Kazakh road race. Sergey Ivanov capped off the weekend by winning his fifth Russian road race championship (1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, and 2008). Current U.S. road champ Levi Leipheimer is scheduled to defend his jersey in August.