Álvaro Pino talks about Russians

By Iker Rioja

Yesterday, Karpin-Galicia's manager Álvaro Pino spoke about the team's interest in hiring Russian riders as their main sponsor is the firm of ex-Russian footballer Valery Karpin. Pino explained that the current Vuelta leader was one of the team's prospects. "We tried to hire Vladimir Efimkin last winter, but he was quite expensive for us," explained Pino.

"The appearance of Tinkoff [Credit Systems team] stopped us from bringing riders like Ignatiev or Brutt," he added. He also stated that Alexander Efimkin, Vuelta's leader's twin brother, is in his last year of his contract with Barloworld, and is at the top of its list for recruiting. "He could be a great rider for us, but he may continue in his current team. We already have Eduard Vorganov and we are quite happy with him," declared Pino.