Cycling Market: Italian champion Simone Velasco will not leave Astana Qazaqstan

Simone Velasco is one of the most in-form riders in the World Tour peloton at the moment and his current employers, the Astana Qazaqstan Team, look set to retain his services for the next few seasons.

According to sources consulted by the Gazzetta dello Sport, always with very good information in the Kazakh team after the passage of Vincenzo Nibali, the current Italian champion would be very close to renew his contract with the team led by Alexander Vinoukourov.

The Italian is having a very complete season that started with an early victory in Sagunto in the third stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. In the Giro d'Italia he finished in the top 10 in a couple of stages, although he did not have a very outstanding performance. His best moment came in the Italian championship.

He was fourth in the time trial and won the maglia tricolore in the elite road race. Then he finished fifth in Castilla y León and third in the Getxo Circuit (leaving the victory to his teammate Lutsenko) before having a great World Cup in which he finished 27th and was key for his compatriot Alberto Bettiol to dream with the victory during some laps.