Belgian rider Mario Aerts as well as Norwegian Thor Hushovd will be attending the annual remembrance criterium for deceased pro Andrei Kivilev in Kazakhstan on Wednesday this week. Both riders took a flight to Kazakhstan capital Almaty straight from Madrid, Spain, where they had participated in the World Championships on Sunday.
"Alexander Vinokourov asked me to come to his home country on the last day of the Tour de France," Aerts told Belgian media. "To ride the annual remembrance criterium for Andrei Kivilev, his best friend who died in Paris-Nice two years ago. I was Vino's room mate at the Tour and we stayed friends. So at the World's in Madrid, he asked me for an energy gel - I shouldn't have given it to him because he put us in pain during three laps in the end!"
