Astana
Training in Spain
Sunday 11th February, 2008
by Alastair Hamilton
On a cold morning in the town of Javea on the East
coast of Spain a bunch of cyclists look at their new bikes for the
coming year. This group are a mix of Astana and Discovery Channel
riders that next season will become the new Astana team and the man
at the helm, Johan Bruyneel, has the job of welding these two distinctly
different elements into one super team and with Tour winner Alberto
Contador leading the charge it should be another successful season
for the man that was behind Lance.
The very posh and very well-hidden Hotel El Rodat
is the venue for this first get together of what will become The Tour
Super Team Astana, as Johan Bruyneel explains “The terrain
is great, there is flat, undulating and big hills and the roads are
quiet, combine that with the best weather in Europe, so its perfect
to start off the season”.
Bert was kept busy with the fans.
The morning consisted of the team going for a four
hour ride in the hills, back from the coast. Some very keen photographers
went with them, but a coffee, a cake and a chat with my old mate Alan
Buttler seemed a much better proposition. Allan was mechanic with
Discovery and now he has come to Astana, as has many of the staff,
except there are two mechanics and two masseurs that hail from Kazakhstan.
Alan Buttler
Andrei is one of the mechanics. He speaks French
and listens to a Russian who sings in Italian on his laptop (the one
with the enormous screen) while he works, which was nice for half
an hour - but all day?
Allan and I talked about many subjects, catching
up on old friends, races, places and Ed Hood (fellow Pez and VeloResults
scribe). The transition from Discovery to Astana had not been easy:
the frames the team are using at the moment are in last years colours,
the new (with light blue) colour scheme was only released the day
before, so the new bikes are a while away.
Normally the bikes come to the mechanics fully
assembled and only needed tweaking, but this year they will be using
the SRAM Red group set, so the bare frames had to built up from scratch,
and when the new ones come it will all have to be done again.
Everyone seemed happy with the SRAM and the spare
bike I took for a spin was sweet, I don’t think it would take
long to get used to the “Double Tap” gear levers, the
only criticism I heard was that the brake calipers would look nicer
in black, not a big problem.
The clothing design has not been finalised either.
One design is similar to last year's, but with different panels and
colours, another was half black and white with the Kazakh crest in
the middle, this didn’t meet the approval of Andrei, not impressed!
The clothing is being produced by Trek and it looks like it will be
a close run thing to be ready for the Tour Down Under in January.
Allan had driven down from Belgium at the weekend
from the Service de Course which is based just outside the town of
Brakel in East Flanders, nearly 2,000 kilometers away, everything
is stored there for the team, all the equipment, the bus, trucks and
there are rooms for any staff to sleep over. Brakel is in the middle
of the most important parts of the Tour of Flanders, near Oudenaarde
and of course this is where Peter Van Petegem and Robbie McEwen live.
Brakel has been the base for a few years; previously the Service de
Course was in Piles, just up the coast from where the training camp
is in Javea.
Right, that's one washed, only eleven to go.
Meanwhile the riders had wandered down to look
at the bikes before they got changed for the ride. Alberto Contador
looked relaxed about the whole thing chatting to the masseurs and
mechanics. The other riders started to appear in there training kit
and as always started to mess with their bikes; new bikes always need
to be adjusted.
Soon they were all ready to go. It was a strange
sight to see this mix of Discovery and Astana riders, but they are
one team and soon they will all look the same too.
After the photos of all the Spanish riders together
including Contador they were ready to go, and joining them today was
Tim Lawson of SIS Sports Drinks and Nutrition who will be supplying
the team this year, he looked a little nervous about what he was about
to undertake. Off they went followed by two unmarked Skoda’s;
yes, the team cars are not ready yet either!
Now that they were gone it was nice and peaceful,
except for the Russian singer. As I was waiting for the riders to
return and the interview with Alberto Contador, Allan was sticking
tubs onto Bontrager carbon wheels that are bound for Australia on
a one way ticket as this would be the last time the team would see
them, as Allan said they would be “dumped” there, sold
off as they were last year's wheels.
Andrei and Chris at work.
Work was going on around us as Andrei and Chris
were building up bikes. Chris, who is Belgian, I discovered lives
next door to some friends of mine, Tim and Jos and knows them very
well as his parents have a bar across the road in the village of West
Meerbeek - just proves it’s a small world in cycling.
After what looked like a hard four and a half hours
in the hills the team were back, waiting for them was drinks and fruit
and rolling in with them was a relieved Tim from SIS: he was pleased
to have stayed with them as one of the local riders knew a hard climb
with a rough unmade surface and was showing off. Tim had been lecturing
on nutrition in the North of England on Wednesday, flew out to Valencia
on Thursday and was now out on the bike with potentially the best
Tour team in the world (if they get a start! Ed.).
The riders had done their work for the day; well
most of them. Alberto Contador had his press conference to attend
after lunch, which you can read about here.
The riders ambled off for their showers and what
looked like a nice lunch, I say “looked like” as that
was as close as I got to it. Then they were off for a massage, while
I had to sit through all the usual question to “Bert”
Contador, and then it was down to the beach for some photos, this
only left me to drive home.
Training camps are not really that exciting - they
are for a purpose and that’s for the riders to train, and the
mechanics to catch up on work before the hectic season starts. Roll
on season ’08!
Bert enjoys a stroll before the season starts
to get serious.
