New multi-use venue to be opened in city of Astana
Several members of the Astana team will be in the Kazakh national capital, that gives the team its name, on Monday to visit the new Republican Velodrome – Astana. Team leader Alexandre Vinokourov, along with new signing Roan Kreuziger and a number of other riders will visit along with Nazarbayev Nursultan, president of Kazakhstan and Kelimbetov Kairat, president of Kazakh Cycling Federation.
The 250m handbuilt velodrome is designed as a multi-use facility, and so includes a four-lane 200m athletics track inside the cycling track and space enough in the middle for a 25m swimming pool and three basketball courts, which can be converted and used for gymnastics. The facility also includes a gym, weight room and climbing wall.
The venue has a planned capacity of 10,000 seats and is also to be used for concerts, conventions, and even motor shows; a ramp passing under the track makes it posible to get cars into the venue. This ramp will also be useful for events at the velodrome, where VIPs want to pass into the track centre without having to mingle with the rest of the crowds.
List of Astana riders to be present:
Alexandre Vinokourov, Roman Kreuziger, Andriy Grivko, Enrico Gasparotto, Paolo Tiralongo, Francesco Masciarelli,Yevgeny Petrov, Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy, Dmitry Fofonov, Maxim Gourov and Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy