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| Lance Armstrong Astana Rider in 2009 |
| Date: 01-10-2008 |
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| First Endurance is pleased to announce that Lance Armstrong will make his professional cycling comeback with Team Astana. Armstrong, who retired in 2005 after recording history with his seventh Tour de France title (all with Bruyneel), has devoted the last three years to the fight against cancer, an illness which temporarily halted his cycling career in 1996. Armstrong now rejoins Bruyneel and Team Astana in an effort to once again return as a champion cyclist and more importantly raise the awareness of the global cancer burden. |
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| Alberto Contador, Astana Wins Tour of Spain 2008 |
| Date: 01-10-2008 |
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| First Endurance sponsored rider Alberto Contador lived up to expectations by winning the 63rd Vuelta d'España. The 25-year-old Astana Cycling Team rider is the first Spanish rider in history to win the three Grand Tours. Contador already won the 2007 Tour de France and the 2008 Giro d'Italia and equals Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault as winners of all three Grand Tours. He even surpasses the achievements of the other four riders as the fourteen months between his Tour 2007 victory and the end of the Vuelta bests the Vuelta/Tour (1978) and Giro (1980) triple time frame set by Hinault. It was a complete success for Astana Cycling Team as teammate Levi Leipheimer finished second overall. |
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| Bernhard Kohl 3rd Overall In Tour De France and Polka Dot Jersey |
| Date: 27-07-2008 |
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| With one stage left in the 2008 edition of the Tour de France, First Endurance rider Bernhard Kohl is set to finish in third place overall and the leader in the Mountain Classification points. Kohl, who's in the polka dot jersey of the overall best climber, rode a solid time trial to hold onto the final podium placing heading into the parade into Paris. The Gerolsteiner rider finished in ninth, and kept a 40 second lead over Rabobank's Denis Menchov in the general classification. |
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| Marcus Burghadt Delivers Columbia's 5th Tour De France Stage Win |
| Date: 25-07-2008 |
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| A powerful acceleration gave First Endurance rider Marcus Burghardt (Team Colombia) his first victory of the 2008 season and Columbia's fifth stage win in the 2008 Tour de France. At the end of a long break, the German comfortably outpowered Spaniard Carlos Barredo in a two-way battle for a convincing stage victory at St. Etienne. For Burghardt the win had particular importance following a tough spring where knee injuries left him out of one of his other big objecitves, the Belgian Classics. |
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