# Astana will be riding Specialized bikes in 2010!



## rosborn (May 10, 2009)

Specialized and Astana announced today that Astana will be riding Specialized bikes in 2010. Contador won the 2009 Tour De France atop a Trek bicycle. He has won the Tour 2 of the last three years and is the favorite to win in 2010. Looks like Specialized could be the bike in 2010! By the way, Specialized ended their sponsorship of Quick-Step prior to signing on with Astana and is still, as of right now, sponsoring Saxo Bank.

Look for new colors from Specialized - Astana colors.


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## mjdwyer23 (Mar 18, 2009)

It'd be cool to see Andy and Alberto rocking the podium.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

rosborn said:


> Specialized and Astana announced today that Astana will be riding Specialized bikes in 2010. Contador won the 2009 Tour De France atop a Trek bicycle. He has won the Tour 2 of the last three years and is the favorite to win in 2010. Looks like Specialized could be the bike in 2010! By the way, Specialized ended their sponsorship of Quick-Step prior to signing on with Astana and is still, as of right now, sponsoring Saxo Bank.
> 
> Look for new colors from Specialized - Astana colors.


Gee, I wonder who'll be riding Treks.  

My prediction is that this years TdF will boil down to a battle between LA and Contador. Lance won't forget that Contador broke away from his team without direction from Bruyneel. I'm not predicting who'll ultimately win, but there _will_ be a battle between those two.


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## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

nah, it will be an Andy Schleck vs Contador battle for 1st


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## rosborn (May 10, 2009)

*Photos of the new Astana Tarmac -*

Here you go -


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## mjdwyer23 (Mar 18, 2009)

Nice...


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## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

Color scheme is decent, BUT I wouldn't necessarily like to commit to an "Astana" branded bike for a few years .... unlike, say, a Saxo Bank / CSC bike.

Astana has Contador, but one super-strong cyclist doesn't assure a good grand tour performance.

Astana has some controversial riders, and not enough really good domestiques.

2010 TdF should be an exciting race between Radio Shack & Saxo Bank , IMHO ;-)


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## DMFT (Feb 3, 2005)

*In my opinion.....*



tom_h said:


> Color scheme is decent, BUT I wouldn't necessarily like to commit to an "Astana" branded bike for a few years .... unlike, say, a Saxo Bank / CSC bike.
> 
> Astana has Contador, but one super-strong cyclist doesn't assure a good grand tour performance.
> 
> ...



- All Alberto has to do is be smart enough to follow the wheels of those 2 teams and he'll be fine barring any bad luck......


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## the_terrible_1 (Dec 4, 2009)

tom_h said:


> Color scheme is decent, BUT I wouldn't necessarily like to commit to an "Astana" branded bike for a few years .... unlike, say, a Saxo Bank / CSC bike.


Saxo Bank are pulling out in 2011, Riis has to find a new sponsor. However, if you mean colourwise, I get what you mean.


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## lambdamaster (Oct 6, 2009)

diggin' the turquoise
reminds me of yeti factory bikes


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## the_terrible_1 (Dec 4, 2009)

Anyone know when this is going to be available as a frameset? Will it be replacing the Quickstep colourway?


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

Astana should get Specialized on the podium for sure, but I'll sure miss all the ads with Quickstep riders.

That Astana frameset is pretty impressive! (although I do agree that I'm not sure I'd want those colors for next xx years...)
Regarding the Quickstep "colorway"- was there ever really a frameset/module offered in QST colors? I know they had the ones w/ the tiny oval stickers, but I don't recall a full-on color-matching frame...


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## the_terrible_1 (Dec 4, 2009)

Well the QS colour was red/black which is pretty standardised I guess. I think it's still listed on the 2010 Specialized website as a standard colour along with the Saxo Bank frameset. QS are on Merckx frames this year which is kinda cool, keeping the Belgium theme going.


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## the_terrible_1 (Dec 4, 2009)

RRRoubaix said:


> That Astana frameset is pretty impressive! (although I do agree that I'm not sure I'd want those colors for next xx years...)


Does this change your mind...?


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## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

Color scheme- not good. They've got a blue/gold team with a bike that's primarily black. 

Anodize the metal gold, get Zipp to do some blue carbon, paint the stem, get rid of the splashes of red, something...


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

It looks pretty good, but yes, it could do with a little less black... hard to do on a bike though!


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## rosborn (May 10, 2009)

RRRoubaix said:


> It looks pretty good, but yes, it could do with a little less black... hard to do on a bike though!


I don't think there's any black on the frame except for the stem and other componentry. The dark color on the top tube is dark blue, not black.


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