Great prep with Astana

“One day we put in a really hard and long ride with many climbs. Today and yesterday we rehearsed the team time trial. The point was to find the ideal position for each rider in our train and get used to it, which is really important in team time trials,” Roman said.Apart from Roman, Astana line-up in St. Moritz includes: the Kazakh riders Vinokurov, Fofonov, M. Iglinskiy and Zeits, Frenchman Di Gregorio, Roman´s roommate, the Ukrainian Grivko, then the Swede Kessiakoff, Italian Tiralongo and Lithuanian Vaitkus. “One of these riders won´t be on the roster for the Tour but the decision hasn’t been made yet, so some riders remain in the dark. The final team composition will be announced at the end of the camp so the selected nine riders could spend the last week before the Tour at ease,” Roman said.He himself would like to stay at high altitudes until Saturday. Should the camp finish before that, he will return to Livigno. “My coach is coming on Saturday and the next day we will have our gear tested on the track. We will also do an outdoor test on a climb on Monday. Then I´m planning to take a long ride on Tuesday and on Wednesday I am off to the Tour,” he described his next schedule.Roman doesn’t know yet what role he will have at the Tour. “We might talk about it but there isn’t much to discuss. Vino is going to be our leader but that is what we have known for a long time and nothing will change it.”