Working hard in Calpe

Roman arrived in Calpe ahead of time with his teammate Gasparotte. “The weather in Italy was quite miserable so I made an agreement with the management to come sooner. I cross-country skied for ten days in the Czech Republic but I wanted to put bike riding back on the prep agenda, on top of that the conditions here are far better,“ reported Romanfrom the seaside resort located between Valencia and Alicante. “Before the other guys arrived on Friday, we did three training sessions with Enric. We even rode for six hours. The country is pretty hilly around here with no long climbs, which suits me best now,“ he revealed. He is familiar with the outskirts of the town very well since he has been there withLiquigas before. “This place has also been Astana’s favorite destination in the past two years. In my opinion, the conditions for the pre-season prep are superb here and many teams are aware of that. We are staying at the same hotel as Katusha and Quick Step, the Garmin guys are staying just around the corner. “ Astana’s 20 riders joined Roman in Calpe and the remaining seven are about to start off the racing season at the Tour Down Under in Australia. “We have done our first ride together and it is obvious that everyone has put in a great deal of hard work All guys are in good shape and this is why the practice rides will be aimed at getting into the racing rhythm rather than covering the warm kilometers,“ Roman added. The team will remain in training in Calpe until January 27 and then the official team presentation will take place the following day in Monte Carlo.