Tour podium finisher transferring with Agnoli and Vanotti
The team is yet to formally announce the move but confirmation that Italy’s best Grand Tour prospect will move to Astana appears to have come from the vice president of the Kazakh Cycling Federation.
Allen Chayzhunusov has said that Tour de France podium finisher Vincenzo Nibali will be part of the team next year. The 27 year old Sicilian won the 2010 Vuelta a España and was second in last year’s Giro, and was said earlier this year to have been in discussions with the team.
“The transfer period is open and it is now possible to announce the transfers to the Astana team for 2013. We had an agreement with Agnoli, Nibali and Vanotti for some time and we can now make formal their arrival,” Chayzhunusov told the news agency Vesti.
Nibali is regarded as a potential future Tour winner, and will replace the retiring Alexandre Vinokourov as the team’s top rider. He will join up with Janez Brajkovic, who was ninth in this year’s Tour. It is understood his contract is for three years.
A strong climber, skillful descender and a decent time triallist, Nibali has had a good season thus far. He won Tirreno-Adriatico, was second overall in the Tour of Oman and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, plus also placed third in Milan-Sanremo and the Tour.
Valerio Agnoli and Alessandro Vanotti are both currently team-mates of Nibali and will join him in the move across to the Kazakh team.