Pro Team Astana in recognition of Etna

This year the Mount Etna will be the scene of the 9th stage of the Giro d’Italia in which the riders climbed two times the highest volcano in Europe. So it’s no coincidence that the Astana team chose this destination as a base camp “Next week, Wednesday or Thursday, the riders will go in recognition of the Giro 2011’s course, said Giuseppe Martinelli. We also chose to come to Etna, because last year Paolo Tiralongo trained there and strongly advised us to return with the team, this place seems ideal for a training at altitude”.For Roman Kreuziger, it will be his first time in Sicily. It is also his last training before running for the first time under the colors of the Kazakh team at the Volta ao Algarve (from 16 to 20 February 2011). The Italian manager also believes that “this training will be also useful for Paris-Nice that’s coming soon and will be his first race with Vinokourov and the first big objective of the season for the team.” We also remind that the Giro 2011 is the major objective of Roman who will be leader of the team on this Grand Tour.List of riders at the training at Etna:Rémy DI GREGORIO (FRA) – Dmitriy FOFONOV (KAZ) – Enrico GASPAROTTO (ITA) Maxim IGLINSKIY (KAZ) – Fredrik KESSIAKOFF (SWE) – Roman KREUZIGER (CZE) – Francesco MASCIARELLI (ITA) – Evgueny PETROV (RUS) – Sergey RENEV (KAZ) – Paolo TIRALONGO (ITA)