Astana-Qazaqstan

VeloNews' Kurt Hoy tagged along on an Astana team training ride near Calpe, Spain, Friday morning, and hustled back to send in some shots of the Tour champ Alberto Contador's first ride with his new teammate Alexander Vinokourov.

Vinokourov joined Contador for a team training ride near Calpe, Spain, on Friday, and VeloNews' Kurt Hoy was along to take pics.

Former Astana rider Matthias Kessler was admitted to a hospital in Mallorca in a critical condition after suffering serious head injuries in a training crash, it was reported on Friday.

Alberto Contador said Thursday that, judging by his power readings, he’s stronger this year than he was in 2009.

Alberto Contador's most notable teammate was not in Calpe, Spain, for the opening day of the team's training camp, but Alexander Vinokourov was expected to arrive later and complete the camp, team officials said.

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador is starting a training camp in Calpe, Spain, Thursday, prior to his season opener at Portugal's Volta au Algarve stage race next month.

Live feed of Alberto Contador news conference, January 14, 2010

Photos from an Astana training ride in Spain on Thursday

Haimar Zubeldia concedes it will be difficult to beat ex-teammate Alberto Contador in this year’s Tour de France.

Alberto Contador and his Team Astana mates will be riding Specialized bicycles as he strives to win a third Tour de France in 2010.

Alberto Contador said Friday he will kick off his 2010 season with Portugal's Tour de Algarve in mid-February.

Benjamín Noval is more motivated than ever to get back to the Tour de France.

Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador said Monday that 2009 has been his best year ever, as he received the award from the International Cycling Union (UCI) as this season's top rider.

Defending Tour de France champion Alberto Contador is expressing confidence that the re-rigged Astana will be able to support him as he searches a third maillot jaune in four years.

Alberto Contador is getting to know his “new” Astana teammates at the team’s first training camp.

New British ProTour team Sky is expected to announce the signing of its country’s star rider, Bradley Wiggins, at a press conference held Thursday in London.

Despite suggesting over the weekend that his career was over Oscar Pereiro has signed a one-year contract with Astana, the Kazakh team announced on Tuesday.

After a possible Astana deal went south, 2006 Tour de France champion Óscar Pereiro says he is probably at the end of his career.

Our readers weigh in on proposed laws in Philly, cops in Florida, Kazakh spending and sayin' hi to our two-wheeled brethren.

Alberto Contador says he's at ease with his decision to remain with Astana for 2010 and is confident about winning his third Tour.

The UCI has registered 17 ProTour teams, including Astana, but the team still may need to produce a bank guarantee before its future is secured.

Haimar Zubeldia says he signed with Astana to work with Johan Bruyneel, and he signed with RadioShack for the same reason.

The Astana cycling team may have hit another hurdle in its efforts to re-secure its ProTour license after the UCI gave the team 24 hours to produce a formal bank guarantee before it will approve the team’s renewal.

The Kazakh government has stepped in with a $22 million cash infusion to keep the Astana team afloat for at least another year.

The brother of Alberto Contador says the two-time winner will likely stay with Astana in 2010, but no longer.

For a race that came within days of being canceled two months ago, the SRAM Tour of the Gila has rebounded in spectacular fashion, now boasting its largest and most star-studded pro fields in history as it begins Wednesday. The race achieved high stature — and the perhaps inevitable resulting controversy — with the appearance of Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner, three Astana teammates who, under agreement with the UCI, will race the Gila in the Mellow Johnny's kit of Armstrong's Austin, Texas, bike shop.