Kazakhstan starts with confident win in Budapest

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I felt quite good today, and in general, in the last few days, so I was motivated to fight for high places at this stage. The final sprint was quite chaotic and nervous, and at some point, I found myself blocked. I had to look for a way forward, slightly missed the right moment to open the sprint. In the end I got a second place. However, I feel that my form is improving, and there is motivation and a desire to fight for something good in the next stages. We’ll see how things develop", - said Samuele Battistella.

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Last year it was different conditions, I was coming from Indian Wells, a lot of wins," Rybakina said. "This year it's much different. I was not expecting honestly to be in the final, because I was not prepared that well for this tournament.

But really happy that I managed to battle through all these matches and be in the final again."

Images | astana-qazaqstan.com

We were motivated to do something good in this last stage of the race, both aiming the stage result and the General Classification. Also, I wanted to protect my white jersey. Today’s stage was the hardest one, also nervous and really fast. Honestly, I did not feel that great at the start of the stage and during the first climb of the day, but as a team we worked very well all together and it helped me a lot to pass through those difficult moments and to come back into the race later. We continued working together mid-way, pushing hard and making some good selection in the bunch. We put the hammer down on the last climb of the day together with Rudolf Remkhi, while later it was Davide Toneatti, who attacked close to the top. It did not work then, but later Nicolas Vinokurov made a strong attack, breaking away with a few guys. It was a nice move, but our group, finally, brought them back with some 300 meters to the line. However, that attack of Nico was a good advantage for the team, and it helped me a lot managing my final sprint. I launched my spring using that high speed of the group while we were catching back the break and it worked pretty well. I am really happy my performance here, with two stage wins, second place in the General Classification, white jersey and the win in the team’s classification", - said Alessandro Romele.

Today, we wanted to race aggressively aiming the final GC podium and why not to win another stage. With 35 km to go the team did a perfect job pushing full gas on the last climb to launch Davide’s attack on the top of climb. I was able to follow the small chasing group behind, but when he got caught on the downhill, so we had to collaborate with other guys in the group, trying to keep our advantage. Well, finally, we got caught by the second chasing group with some 15 km to go, but I saw another opportunity and attacked again with three more guys. I think this move looked pretty good and we opened a gap, however, I was feeling like those guys were faster than me, so I started disorganizing the group, to provide a chance to Alessandro who stayed well placed in the group behind our shoulders. In the last 300 meters I saw the chase coming back at the full speed, so I launched the sprint to make a small lead-out for Alessandro. He did it perfectly and we got another nice win here in Rhodes. What a nice day for us!", - added one of today’s heroes Nicolas Vinokurov.

We had a clear goal for these races in Greece - to try to get a win and to fight for the podiums in the General Classification. Now, all the goals are achieved as we won two stages, took a second and a third places in the overall, got a number of stage podiums and Top-10s. I am really happy with the way we spent this day, it was a key stage for the General Classification and the team played it perfectly. We made a huge selection on the climb and tried to create something afterwards. In the end of the day, we could win another stage and move up in the overall standings, also winning the team’s classification. We can be proud with our days here in Greece, but we won’t stop. The season just started, and we are aiming high in our next races", - said Dmitri Sedoun, Astana Qazaqstan Development Team Sports Director.

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It was a tough race from the start till the very finish. We as a team worked perfectly and controlled the situation. We were always altogether and in front, which helped us to save energy for the final where we were together with Nico and Alex. My first intention was to actually do the lead out for Nico but with 100 meters to go I saw that I can continue further. I am very glad to win and I hope we can do a good job tomorrow as well".

We arrived to Tour of Rhodes with the intention to demonstrate good results, in the past days we were always active and were looking for a win and today we achieved it. Everything went according to our plan today, Alessandro, Nicolas (Vinokurov) and Davide (Toneatti) finished in the Top-10. So, our plan worked well and the riders did a good job, but tomorrow is another day and we are going to fight for the highest result once again".