Road: Astana’s Gregory Rast Starts Tour of Turkey with a Win

The Astana Cycling Team continued its winning style in the 44th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey. Former Swiss Champion Gregory Rast followed his strong performance in the Tour of Flanders by winning the Grand Prix of Istanbul, a 76 K criterium.  Rast was the fastest sprinter in a group of seven riders, who escaped early in the race. Italian Francesco Ginanni (Serramenti PVC-Androni) finished second and David García (Karpin Galicia) third.

The victory in Istanbul is Gregy Rast's first victory of the season, the twelfth victory for Astana Cycling Team in 2008. Gregy Rast will not start in the leader's jersey in tomorrow's first stage of the Presidential Cycling Tour (April 13-20th) as the time difference does not count for the general classification.

Result:

1. Gregory Rast (AST); 2. Franceco Ginanni; 3. David García; 4. Matteo Priamo; 5. Gustavo César;  6. Miguel Rubiano; 7. Gabriele Missaglia 0.26; 8. Francesco Reda 4.43; 9. Manuel Belletti; 10. Enrique Salgueiro; 11. Assan Bazayev (AST); 14. Andreas Klöden (AST); 23. Koen de Kort (AST); 75. Andrey Zeits (AST); 81. Benoît Joachim (AST)

For more information see www.astana-cyclingteam.com