Astana Qazaqstan Team signs Lorenzo Fortunato
Astana Qazaqstan Team is happy to announce the new rider for the seasons of 2024 and 2025: the Italian Lorenzo Fortunato (27) signed a two-year deal with the Kazakh team.
“I am really happy to join team Astana, the team with a great history, who won all three Grand Tours with different riders. I am looking forward to meeting my new team and I hope to keep on progressing there as I did it during the last three years. I am sure with a bigger calendar which I’ll have in Astana Qazaqstan Team I’ll have more opportunities to prove myself as a team helper and as a rider who can make results. I am really grateful for this possibility to make a step into the WorldTour and I hope to pay this trust off in the next years”, – said Lorenzo Fortunato.
Lorenzo Fortunato is a well-known Italian climber and stage-race rider with several impressing results during his five-year professional career. Lorenzo started as pro rider in 2019 with a 4th place in the Tour of Albania and a 6th place in the Tour of Almaty, but his main results came later back in 2021 when he won a stage at the Giro d’Italia atop the legendary Monte Zoncolan and the General Classification of the Adriatica-Ionica Race.
In 2023 Lorenzo Fortunato won a stage and the General Classification of the Vuelta Asturias, finished 5th in the Tour of the Alps and 6th in the Tour of Slovenia.
“With all the results Lorenzo already achieved it seems like it is a good time for him to move to the WorldTour and I believe he is the rider who can make a serious step ahead in his career in our team. We see in Lorenzo a rider who can fight for a good result in week-long stage races but also in one-day classics. At the same time he has an impressive experience in the Giro d’Italia where he already got an important win on Zoncolan. Well, I am looking forward to see Lorenzo in Astana Qazaqstan Team and I am sure this move could be a successful one both for the rider and the team”, – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General manager of Astana Qazaqstan Team.
Photo credit: @SprintCycling