Putintseva wins at the start of Internazionali BNL d'Italia

Images | astana-qazaqstan.com

Today was the final stage of the race, so I wanted to give my maximum and see how it goes. The goal was to try to attack on the last climb, which we managed to do. It was quite tough during the first stages, and honestly, I didn’t expect that we would be able to win today, but the guys did a great job, positioning me perfectly at the beginning of the climb. I am grateful to my teammates, they did amazing work today for this victory" - said Ilkhan Dostiev.

It’s nice to start a race by winning the prologue and even having an advantage in the GC already. We have a strong team and this victory adds some additional confidence to us. I am glad with my shape right now and look forward to the upcoming stages", - said Max Walker.

Images | astana-qazaqstan.com

The team was just phenomenal; my teammates did a great job and I managed to complete the job with a win. The finish was not easy and the final kilometres with a few corners turned out to be technically challenging. But it all worked out in the end, and I am very happy! Many thanks to the whole team! Yevgeniy Gidich looked after us the whole day long, protected us from the wind, kept us in position. Then Michele Gazzoli did a great job on the climb. Gleb Syritsa took us to a perfect position before the final kilometres of the stage. Cees Bol did everything perfectly, a great lead-out at top speed in a slight uphill. In the final, Mikael Mørkøv kept the speed high and brought me close to the finish line, giving me a short explosive acceleration that ended with the win! I am really happy with this victory; I was able to approach this race in a good shape after a fruitful training block. This victory will add motivation to all of us before the main goal of the season, the Tour de France", - said Mark Cavendish.