In 2012 Alexander Vinokourov finally waved goodbye to professional cycling but not before winning the gold medal in the men’s road race at the London Olympics. Vinokourov had crashed out of the 2011 Tour de France on Stage 9 breaking his right femur. The crash derailed what was to be a grand finale, Vinokourov took the necessary time to rest and recover and begun 2012 as a refreshed cyclist ready for one final attack. At the Tour he was the most combative on Stage 18 and made his final appearance on a Tour podium. His only win in 2012 was the gold medal which trumped his Silver from the Sydney Olympic games and the manner in which he attacked and won the gold in London for man has left an positive lasting impression of the Kazakh rider as star on the bike rather than the convicted blood doper, booted out of the 2007 Tour de France. Vinokourov was undoubtedly the face of Astana since his come back from the doping ban. Contador was the star but he lacked the emotional investment in the team that Vinokourov had in spades. The relationship seemed to be one of convenience until a better option came along. The new face of Astana looks to be a dual pronged attack of Nibali and Jakob Fuglsang who will be backed up by able domestiques.
Individually Astana riders performed quite well in 2012 but there were also two team Classification wins. The first came at the Presidential Tour of Turkey in April before taking out the classification at the Tour de Suisse in June. However it was April in particular that Astana excelled, taking two of the three Ardennes classics which would have on its own be enough success for some teams for a whole season. Enrico Gasparotto won his first ever classic by outsprinting Jelle Vanendert on the line and was the first Italian since Damiano Cunego to win a classic. In 2010 Gasparotto finished third so his win was no surprise but validation of his talents whose first ever pro win was the Italian national championships road race. Gasparotto hadn’t won a race since Stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico in 2009 but in April he was a man on a mission and he was in top form. Philippe Gilbert had destroyed the peloton during the 2011 Ardennes campaign he competed just the second clean sweep of the three races. In 2012 Gasparotto took the first of the Ardennes, just days later at La Flèche Wallonne he was 11th only 11 seconds behind Joaquim Rodriguez. In the final stages of Liège–Bastogne–Liège Vincenzo Nibali was leading the race after a 20km attack, he was reeled in by Maxim Iglinsky in the final kilometre and took Astana’s second Ardennes classic in a week and the first Liège–Bastogne–Liège since Vinokourov in 2010. As Nibali was fading seeing Iglinsky ride away with the win, Gasparotto made a late charge to finish third and cap off a successful week for himself and Astana.
The classics had proven to be a success in 2012 and the one day form that Astana riders had shown carried across to the stage races of the Giro, Tour of Slovenia, Tour de Suisse and the Vuelta. At the Giro Paolo Tiralongo won his second stage after Contador had gifted him Stage 19 last year. Roman Kreuziger won his first Grand Tour stage and in doing so made it two years in a row that Astana had won Stage 19. The Giro was not the success of 2011 when Kreuziger won the Young Rider Classification with only one rider in the top ten of the four individual classifications. Two stage wins is still a good return but Astana were hoping for Kreuziger to mount a GC challenge and with the signings of Nibali and Fuglsang the team must be chasing GC wins rather than isolated stage wins in 2013 Grand Tours. After the moderate success of the Giro, Astana had a good June with several results.
The first stage of the Tour of Slovenia was won by Simone Ponzi and the overall by Janez Brajkovic. Ponzi finished second on Stage 2 and Brajkovic was second on Stage 3 to ensure the GC win. While Brajkovic and Ponzi were winning in Slovenia the team took two stage wins and the Team Classification at the Tour de Suisse. The stages were won by Fredrik Kessiakoff and Tanel Kangert. Kessiakoff had two stints in the King of the Mountains jersey at the Tour de France in what has been his most successful season o the road after switching from Cross-Country MTB. Kessiakoff’s biggest win of the season was Stage 11 of the Vuelta in the ITT which backed up his Tour de Suisse win. In the ITT World Championships he placed 5th which was a sign his progress and provides a platform for greater responsibility being given to the Swedish rider in 2013. June proved to be the most successful month for Astana behind the two Classics of April and the wins at the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey.
In a late season resurgence Astana picked up the Vuelta stage win as well as the third stage of the Tour of Beijing. The two UCI World Tour wins meant Astana finished in 10th place of the UCI World Tour teams ranking. With several big signings for the 2013 season Astana should be fine with their UCI points and look likely to begin to challenge for Grand Tour titles once again. The three overall stage race wins were not highly significant races but having Nibali and Fuglsang sharing the GC duties they should be challenging in races such as Paris-Nice, Critérium de Dauphiné, Tour of California and other one week races of a similar calibre. A good beginning of the season at the classics could also take some of the pressure off the team to perform which would be beneficial to Nibali and Fuglsang and their quests for GC glory.
Top Five Results of 2012:
Amstel Gold Race Enrico Gasparotto
Liège–Bastogne–Liège Maxim Iglinsky
Giro d’Italia Stage 7 Paolo Tiralongo
Giro d’Italia Stage 19 Roman Kreuziger
Vuelta de España Stage 11 Fredrik Kessiakoff
Breakout Riders: The successes of Astana’s season largely came about through riders who hadn’t won major races before 2012. The wins at the Ardennes Classics wins were the biggest wins of their careers. Both Gasparotto and Iglinsky had won their respective national road races and a handful of smaller races but never a race on this scale. For Iglinsky this was his biggest win since the 2010 Montepaschi Strade Bianche and the highlight of his 2012 season. Although he didn’t win another race in 2012 Iglinsky showed when the time comes he can match it with the classics specialists and will be hoping he can build upon the performances in 2013. Gasparotto had a mixed 2012 but his week in the Ardennes was a team highlight. His win at Amstel Gold race and third place at Liège–Bastogne–Liège saw Astana take the headlines in one of the biggest annual weeks of cycling. A crash at the Vuelta meant a broken collarbone and he too finished without another win in 2012. However from an Italian perspective, as Gasparotto was the first Italian rider since Damiano Cunego to win a Classic, his season can be judged as successful. Kessiakoff was a shining light for the team in the second half of the season and can build upon his 2012 form.
Disappointing riders: Janez Brajkovic finished ninth at the Tour this year in his first year back at Astana but his season was underwhelming after an successful early season. Brajkovic had made the move back to Astana for the GC freedom they offered him, he only rode one Grand Tour in 2012 and with Nibali and Fuglsang moving across in 2013 he may ride just one Grand Tour as a leader next season. For a rider pushing for podiums at Grand Tours a stage win at Volta a Catalunya and overall at the Tour of Slovenia as the only wins for a season is disappointing. Particularly when Brajkovic made the move back to have the freedom to push for more wins.
Another GC rider on the Astana books with an underwhelming year was Roman Kreuziger. Kreuziger won a stage at the Giro on his way to 15th overall but otherwise his season was barren results wise. As one of the two leaders that Astana had for the Giro his 15th placing was down on last year in which he won the Young Riders Classification and finished 5th. Kreuziger is off to Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank in 2013 but will leave Astana, remembered for his potential but largely underperforming two seasons with the team. As a U-19 World Champion and having twice finished in the top ten of the Tour de France, Kreuziger was rightly expected to be making waves with big Grand Tour results at Astana. A new beginning at Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank may just be what he needs and will also allow Astana to approach the grand tours with a new GC plan.
How 2013 looks: A season defined by two Classics and three Grand Tour wins, Vinokourov’s Gold Medal was a little bonus but the team will also be somewhat of an anomaly. Vinokourov will be in the team car next season as Astana will look toward to the upcoming Kazakh riders and place their faith in Nibali and Fuglsang to deliver on the Grand Tour stage. Their season could be derailed by the Padua investigation which will reveal its findings by the end of October reportedly and Astana has been one of the major teams to have been investigated. Whether or not the findings will impact the upcoming season for Astana remains to be seen but the signings of Nibali and Fuglsang should see the team balance GC and one day aspirations a little more evenly. There is no doubt the team celebrated the feats in the Ardennes but come 2013 Astana is hungry for Grand Tour success and have prepared accordingly.
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