"I would like to shine in races like the Tour of Flanders or the Strade Bianche" - Alexey Lutsenko to focus on spring classics, abandon Grand Tour ambitions

Astana Qazaqstan Team have underwent a very complicated season being the lowest scoring World Tour team, and the year ended even more negatively as the team terminated Miguel Ángel López' contract. Alexey Lutsenko is having more responsibility for the coming season, but he reveals high ambitions.

"I felt good. The team had sent me to the Vuelta to prepare for the World championships," Lutsenko explained in an interview with Bici.Pro. The Kazakh had in the past been under-23 World Champion, and in Wollongong he had the chance of a lifetime to take the Elite rainbow jersey as he was the only rider to follow Remco Evenepoel when the Belgian attacked.

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"When Remco attacked, I made the big mistake of following him straight away. If I had waited for a little longer, I might have been able to save the podium," Lutsenko explains however, having been dropped by the Belgian in the final ascent, and then unable to withstand the comeback from the peloton.

Lutsenko eventually finished 24th, far from the medals. He won on his first day of racing at the Clasica Jaén Paraiso Interior which was also Astana's first win of the year, however a crash at an altitude camp in Mount Teide saw him completely absent from the spring. He rode to eighth at the Tour de France, however it was little consolation for a season that hasn't reached the ambitions. 

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The Kazakh has now finished in the Top10 of the Tour on two consecutive occasions, but will step away from his Grand Tour ambitions in 2023. "I would like to shine in races like the Tour of Flanders or the Strade Bianche because I feel good on the dirt roads. The Grand Tours? Long and tough races. On the other hand, one-week stage races are within my reach, even the most difficult," he explains. 

Although 2022 wasn't his year, in 2021 he finished second at the Critérium du Dauphiné, in 2020 third at the UAE Tour, and has victories in several one-day races and stage-races such as the Tour of Oman and Arctic Race of Norway over the last few years. Oman is where he will start his 2023 campaign, before travelling to Europe for Strade Bianche.

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"In 2021, I finished 2nd in the Critérium du Dauphiné, 17 seconds behind Richie Porte. But in 2023, if everything is going well, I will focus on the Classics, so the Strade Bianche, the Flandriennes and the Ardennaises," he concluded.

Flandres will be on his plans, aswell as the Ardennes classics. It is unsure if he will be doing one of the spring stage-races (Paris-Nice; Tirreno-Adriatico; Volta a Catalunya or Itzulia Basque Country), but over the coming weeks decisions will be made within the Astana camp.

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