Haimar Zubeldia for Astana in 2009.

After the fire of Gusev and the contract agreements of nine riders, a new lieutenant will come to the team: Haimar Zubeldia a big tour rider. In Euskaltel Euskadi since running, he achieved three times the top10 in the Tour of France. I remember him when he did great combos with Mayo against Armstrong, pretty stages was.

After 10 years in his team, he maybe lacks motivation because this season was the worst for him, even in the Tour he couldn’t perform well and eventually replaced by Samuel Sanchez in this race.

With 31 years he can still return to their high performance, something i don´t believe for Leipheimer.So I think that one day (maybe already next year) he will replace the status of Leipheimer, seems the american is loosing some ability, especially in the mountains. With Contador as a leader this year, he have a great companion now with the same characteristics and the same nationality, I think is a major factor for his hiring.

So, seems that lack a lider in cooblestones races, Rast and Vaitkus are the ones that usually do this type of races. Maybe Astana may not want to go to Paris-Roubaix next year?

The press release in site of Astana.