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Daniele Pietropolli (LPR Brakes) attacks (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

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Paolo Tiralongo (Lampre - N.G.C) on the attack. (Image credit: Sirotti)

Lampre-NGC rider Paolo Tiralongo has announced on his web page that he has signed a two-year deal with Astana. The 32-year-old Italian finished eighth in this year’s Vuelta a España in what turned out to be the last of his four seasons with Lampre.

The Cyclingnews guide to rider transfers

Among his new teammates is Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, and both riders will be keen to hear today’s decision by the International Cycling Union's (UCI) licensing commission over Astana’s application to continue in the ProTour.

While Tiralongo heads out of Lampre, LPR’s Daniele Pietropolli will head in, after he signed a two-year contract with Beppe Saronni's team.

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Peter Cossins

Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014).

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