Luis Leon Sanchez renews with Astana - News Shorts

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Spaniard Luis León Sánchez inked a new two-year contract with Astana, the team announced Monday. The renewal follows strong performances by the 33-year-old in last month's Giro d'Italia.

"I'm satisfied about this renewal because Luis León is a very strong rider, one of the best athletes, a trustable teammate, he is able to win important races and do an excellent job for the Team," general manager Alexandre Vinokourov said.

Sanchez was frequently on the attack in the Giro, trying to win a stage in memory of fallen teammate Michele Scarponi. He came close on stage 8 to Peschi, but finished third. He came second in the mountains classification to Mikel Landa, but missed out on wearing the blue jersey.

"Even during last Giro d'Italia, that has been really difficult for us for many different reasons, Luis León demonstrated to be generous and trustable as one of the best in the peloton: he really deserved a good renewal with the Astana Proteam," Vinokourov said.

Sánchez went from the Giro to the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he worked for eventual race winner Jakob Fuglsang before dropping out with a toothache on stage 6.

His next race with the team will be the Tour of Poland, with the Vuelta a España as his main goal for the second half of the season.

British Cycling overhauls governance

British Cycling has announced proposals to overhaul its leadership structure in order to comply with UK Sport's new Code for Sports Governance.

Proposals also call for Welsh and Scottish Cycling to appoint members to the board, a move welcomed by Welsh Cycling.

"We look forward to working together and supporting British Cycling in becoming a world-class governing body of sport. We understand the changes that need to be made, and are fully behind British Cycling in this process," Anne Adams-King, chief executive of Welsh Cycling, said.

British Cycling's proposals are part of a much larger overhaul to the leadership, athlete management and culture that was sparked by allegations of sexism and discrimination last year, a parliamentary inquiry into doping that delved into the relationship between British Cycling and Team Sky, and an independent review that concluded that an obsession with Olympic medals had led to the degradation of the culture of the high-performance programme.

Wrist injury for De Gendt

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) won the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné and led the race for five days, but then dropped out of the race before the final stage after losing almost nine minutes on the stage to La Motte-Servolex.

According to his team, the reason for his abandon is that he was suffering from a sore wrist. After an examination at a hospital, it was determined that he has intersection syndrome ('oarsman's wrist') – an overuse injury to the forearm. Although he will have to wear a brace for three weeks, De Gendt is still able to train, and his preparation for the Tour de France will not be hampered.

Italian road nationals course revealed

RCS Sport announced the routes for the Italian Road Championships, which will be held in the Piemonte region, near Tornio. The time trials will take place on June 23, with elite men tackling a rolling 38.3km course from Cerie to Caluso, while the women and juniors will start in Volpiano and race only 19km.

The elite men and women's road races will be held on June 25, with a start in Asti for the men and in Leini for the women.

Both fields will take on the final circuit in Ivrea that includes the climb of La Serra, a two-kilometre ascent with maximum gradients of 15%.

While the women take on the 21.3-kilometre circuit just once, the men will race it four times, with the first trip coming after 151 kilometres for a total of 236 kilometres.

Giacomo Nizzolo and Elena Cecchini are the defending champions in the road race, while Manuel Quinziato and Elisa Longo Borghini were the winners in the time trial.