Alexey Lutsenko set for three more seasons in Astana Team
Astana Team is pleased to announce that the strongest Kazakh rider in the peloton, Alexey Lutsenko, will remain with the team for the following three seasons (2022-2024). The 28-year-old team leader will continue defending the colors of the national cycling project after nine successful years with the Kazakh WorldTour team.
“I am very happy to continue my professional career in our Kazakh Astana Team. During the years spent in the team, I have managed to become a leader, and for me this is both a responsibility and an incentive to continue to develop, to strive for new heights and every time to try to confirm my leadership position with new victories. This year, I managed to make a big step forward in the fight for the General Classifications both, at big week-long races like the Criterium du Dauphine and at the Grand Tours. My seventh place in the General Classification of the Tour de France motivates me to continue moving in this direction so, in the future, I will be aiming to fight not only for the top ten, but also for the podium. I will enter the new season together with the Astana Team with new ambitions and goals. I am sure that together with the team management and coaches we will be able to determine my main goals for the next seasons, after which we will do our best to achieve what we want”, – says Alexey Lutsenko.
Despite an injury sustained in the beginning of the year at Paris–Nice, Lutsenko has achieved a number of significant results this season. In June, Lutsenko claimed a solid win in the individual time trial at the prestigious stage race Criterium du Dauphine, also taking the second podium place in the General Classification. While in July, the Kazakh leader of the team excelled at the Tour de France, where he finished in a high seventh place in the overall standings, for the first time entering the top 10 at a Grand Tour. Lutsenko also stood on the podium at the one-day race Gran Premio Miguel Indurain.
His career in the Astana Team started in 2013 immediately after his historic victory in the road race of the U23 UCI Road World Championships. Throughout the past nine seasons in the Astana project, Lutsenko took 28 victories, including stage wins at the Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana, Paris–Nice, Criterium du Dauphine, Tour de Suisse and Tirreno–Adriatico.
“Alexey is a real team leader, who is not only winning and delivering high results, but who is also able to rally the team and lead it at the highest level races. This year, an important step forward was made at the Tour de France, and for the first time in 16 years, a Kazakh rider was among the best ten riders in the overall standings. Now Alexey is entering the age of the heyday of a professional rider, and I am very glad that we will continue this path together. There is a lot of work ahead, we will not stop there, but we will continue to move forward. Our team needs a leader like Alexey Lutsenko, and I am sure that in Astana, Alexey will have everything he needs to achieve the most ambitious goals”, – says Alexandr Vinokurov, 2022 Sports Team Principal.
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