Tour de France. Alexey Lutsenko is 9th in the final General Classification
The 109th edition of the Tour de France has finished today with traditional Stage 21 to the Champs Elysees in Paris. For the second time in a row the leader of Astana Qazaqstan Team Alexey Lutsenko finished inside the Top-10 of the General Classification: in 2021 he finished 7th, while this time the Kazakh rider did 9th.
“Well, I came here at the Tour de France with a goal to try again to do a good result in the General Classification. The preparation to the Tour was not a perfect one as well as all first part of the year with the crashes, sickness and bad luck. But, together with the team we were able to do our best, to fight in the mountains, especially in the third week, and to get a nice ninth place. There is no doubt, that I’d like to get more from this Tour both in some stages and the overall standings, but that’s how it is. However, I did my best in these three weeks and now I am satisfied with the result. So, we are here at the finish in Paris, but the season is still going on and I am looking forward to some new goals in the second half”, – said Alexey Lutsenko.
“It was a tough Tour for us immediately from the start when we lost Samuele Battistella, who has been replaced by Alexandr Riabushenko in the last moment. Gianni Moscon was forced to abandon the race due to post-COVID consequences and also Fabio Felline, who got sick in the second week. Anyway, we tried our best and in the third week we saw a strong team around our leader Alexey Lutsenko, who was performing really well in the Pyrenees. At the end of the day we still have a nice ninth place in the General Classification as well as a tenth place in the team classification. I have to be honest, we missed a stage win here in the Tour de France, but as you could see, many teams still remained without a victory. However, our Kazakh rider Alexey Lutsenko is once again in the Top-10 of Tour de France and there is no doubt that it is another strong result for domestic cycling”, – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of Astana Qazaqstan Team.
Astana Qazaqstan Team concluded the team classification of the Tour de France in 10th position.
Another notable news is the performance of another Kazakh rider Andrey Zeits: finishing today’s stage in Paris Andrey concluded his 20th Grand Tour without abandon in any of its 420 stages!
“Perhaps it is a nice achievement for me, and I am happy with it. But the most important is the fact that in every Grand Tour I raced during my career I tried to do my best for the leaders, for the team. This Tour de France, my 20th Grand Tour, turned out to be a tough one, but I am happy that our leader Alexey Lutsenko once again showed his class and became one of the best riders in the General Classification. I think, this is a solid result for cycling in Kazakhstan”, – said Andrey Zeits.
Supported by the General Partner “Samruk-Kazyna” and the Sports Support Foundation “SportQory”.
Photo credit: @Gettysport