Italian sprinter Andrea Guardini has had his contract with Astana extended for one-year. The 25-year-old joined the WorldTour team in 2013 but has blossomed in his second year with the team with five of the team's 22 victories so far this year.
The announcement by the team comes after Guardini finished his second career grand tour at the Vuelta a España where he finished in 159th place overall.
Astana general manager Alexander Vinokourov believes that Guardini has the talent to contest for victories with the fastest men in the world and is happy to keep him on-board.
Guardini started the season with two stage wins at the Tour de Langkawi in February and then claimed another two wins at the Post Danmark Rundt in August. A week later he claimed the biggest win of his career so far when he won the first stage of the Eneco Tour.
His next race is the Coppa Bernocchi.