Astana Cycling Team & The Kit

Astana (UCI team code: AST) is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana.

Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007. Following a major doping scandal involving Kazakhstani rider Alexander Vinokourov, team management was terminated and new management brought in for the 2008 season. The team was then managed by Johan Bruyneel, former team manager of U.S. Postal/Discovery Channel team. Although Astana under Bruyneel was very successful, with a lineup including Grand Tour winners Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, as well as runners-up Levi Leipheimer & Andreas Klöden, the team was on the verge of financial collapse in May 2009. A battle for control of the team related to the return of Vinokourov for the 2009 Vuelta a España caused Bruyneel and at least fourteen of its riders to leave at the end of the 2009 season, most for Team RadioShack. Only four Spanish riders, including Contador, and most of the Kazakhs remained with the rebuilt team for 2010. Those four Spaniards all left the team for Saxo Bank-SunGard in 2011.

Astana Team Kit

With less than a month to go until the start of 2011, the Astana team has released the design of its new jersey for next season. Using team leader Alexander Vinkourov to model it, the 2011 version is a simplified version of that worn in this year’s races. It features the team title in a more futuristic logo but lacking the golden sun found on the country’s national flag.

As was the case in 2010, the jersey and shorts again bear the Specialized logo plus that of Moa, the team’s clothing supplier.

This season was a very successful one for the team, which took 20 victories. These include seven by Alberto Contador, who started things off with a stage win plus the overall classification in the Volta ao Algarve, did the same in the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, took the prologue plus the Alpe d’Huez stage in the Critérium du Dauphiné, then won the Tour de France. The latter triumph looks under threat due to his positive test for Clenbuterol, however.

Other wins were taken by Vinokourov (stage one and overall in Giro del Trentino, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, stage 13 of the Tour de France), Maxim Iglinskiy (Montepaschi Strade Bianche), Enrico Gasparotto (stage five of Tirreno-Adriatico), Daniel Navarro (stage five of Critérium du Dauphiné, Gorazd Stangelj (Slovenian championships) and Valentin Iglinskiy (stage two and overall of Tour of Hainan). Vinokourov also led the Giro d’Italia.

Targets for 2011 will again include many of the same races. Vinokourov will be keen to retain his Liège title, and has said that he will lead the team in the Tour de France, Kreuziger is likely to support him in that race, but will be ready to step up if his team captain doesn’t have the legs. He is also likely to lead the team in either the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta a España.

The ProTeam squad will feature 27 riders in 2011. They are the Kazakhstan competitors Vinkourov, Assan Bazayev, Alexander Dyachenko, Dmitriy Fofonov, Maxim Gourov, Maxim Iglinskiy, Valentin Iglinskiy, Roman Kireyev, Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy, Sergey Renev and Andrey Zeits, the Australians Simon Clarke and Allan Davis, Frenchman Rémy Di Gregorio, Italians Enrico Gasparotto, Mirco Lorenzetto, Francesco Masciarelli and Paolo Tiralongo, Andriy Grivko (Ukraine), Joseph Jufre (Spain), Tanel Kangert (Estonia), Fredrik Kessiakoff (Sweden), Robert Kiserlovski, Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic), Evgeni Petrov (Russia), Tomas Vaitkus (Lithuania) and Gorazd Stangelj (Slovenia).

Contador has left for Saxo Bank SunGard, along with Jesus Hernandez, Daniel Navarro and Benjamin Noval. Mirko Selvaggi is going to Vacansoleil, David de la Fuente to Geox and Oscar Pereiro Sio is retiring.