When you are about to live a new and fascinating chapter of a long story, the most important thing is to be able to close the previous one in the best way, especially if it represented a great part of that adventure. This is what happened in recent days in Aguascalientes where the Mexican Track Championships were scheduled: the absolute protagonist of the event in the women’s field was
Yareli Salazar who won five gold medals (Pursuit, Points Race, Elimination , Madison and Omnium) and a bronze one (Scratch) in the six races she did, an excellent starting point for the long season that will take her to the Olympic Games in Tokyo next summer.But these successes achieved by Yareli Salazar also have a greater significance, because they are the last of the historic Italian team chaired by
Maurizio Fabretto under the name of
Astana Women’s Team. Starting from 1 January 2021 the team will continue its international activity for what will be its twenty-sixth consecutive season in the world of women’s cycling, but after six years the paths of the management and the famous Kazakh sports group will separate: in this arc of time a total of 48 victories in UCI calendar races have arrived on four different continents, plus other placings and results of great value.
«In all these years – declared the president Maurizio Fabretto – it was a source of great pride for us to bring a prestigious name like Astana around the world: they were six very intense seasons, sometimes full of difficulties but that however brought us great satisfactions. I must admit, we are a little sorry to close this partnership at the end of such a complicated and particular season, but above all without being able to reach goals and objectives even higher than those we have achieved: for our part, however, we are aware that we have done the maximum possible, we have no regrets and we are happy that the circle has been closed with these victories in Mexico».
Despite the separation from the Astana group, the future is still bright: «Now we have to look forward – adds Fabretto – because we are ready to embark on an even more ambitious adventure and we are more motivated than ever!». In the next few days the team will reveal all the details of the new project, from the name of the team to the athletes who will make up the official roster.
