Gasparotto extends Astana contract

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Astana's Enrico Gasparotto has revealed that he has signed an extension to his contract with the Kazakh ProTour team and will remain with them until at least the end of the 2014 season.

The 30-year-old Italian, who joined Astana from Lampre in 2010, was in the form of his life over the spring, winning the Amstel Gold Race and coming third at Leige-Bastogne-Liege.

He is currently in the middle of a rest period ahead of his main late summer target, the Vuelta a Espana, which starts on August 18. He is scheduled to tune up for that race at the Tour of Austria and the Tour of Poland. He is also hoping to be a key part of the Italian team at the UCI road world championships in Holland in September.

“I am very happy to renew,” Gasparotto said on the Astana website. “I will try to repay the faith that has been placed in me by doing all I can to get some more big results – not just for me for my teammates as well.

"Riding with the same team for five years will be a new personal record for me. I have already been with Pro Team Astana for three years and I know this team inside out. At the most important stage of my career, I think this is the best environment for me to be able to express myself completely, as has been the case this year.”