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Astana Team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Astana | ||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||
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| UCI code | AST | |||||||||||||
| Based |  Luxembourg |
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| Founded | 2007 | |||||||||||||
| Discipline(s) | Road | |||||||||||||
| Status | ProTour | |||||||||||||
| Team Manager | Johan Bruyneel (2008) Mario Kummer (2007) |
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The Astana Team (UCI Team Code: AST), is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan – including Air Astana – named after its capital.
The UCI ProTour license commission first informed Astana Team that they would not be granted a ProTour License for the 2007 season. Following UCI's decision not to grant a ProTour license, the organizers of the three Grand Tours informed Astana Team that they would be included, regardless of ProTour license status. On December 20, 2006 the UCI License Commission awarded Astana Team with a 4 year ProTour license.
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Recently Arcelor Mittal decided to be co-sponsor for at least the 2007 season. The team has UCI ProTour status,[1] is Swiss-based and managed by former Tour de Suisse organiser Marc Biver. The team's leader was formerly Alexander Vinokourov until he was sacked following a positive test of his B-sample for blood doping during the Tour de France.
Some riders and staff joined the team from the former Liberty Seguros-Würth team, also known as Würth Team and Astana-Würth Team.[citation needed]
As of September 5, 2007.[2]
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- General manager – Marc Biver
- Team manager – Mario Kummer
- Technical manager – Walter Godefroot
- Assistant Team Managers – Adriano Baffi, Giovanni Fidanza and Alexander Sheffer
- 1st, Team classification, 2007 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (2007 UCI ProTour)
- 1st, Team classification, 2007 Jayco Herald Sun Tour (2007-2008 UCI Oceania Tour)
After a positive blood doping (transfusion) test following the winning time-trial by team-leader Alexander Vinokourov, organisers invited Team Astana's management to withdraw the entire team from the 2007 Tour de France; this invitation was immediately accepted.[3]
Following confirmation that Vinokourov's B-sample had also tested positive, the Astana Team announced that he had been sacked with immediate effect.[4]
Additionally the team decided to suspend its activities during the month of August to decide about its future with new regulations.[5]
Beginning in the 2008 season, Team Astana will be managed by Johan Bruyneel, the former directeur sportif of the defunct Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. Joining him are former Discovery riders Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, The 2008 team will employ the anti-doping system developed by Dr. Rasmus Damsgaard, Head of Information for Anti Doping Danmark (ADD). The anti-doping system was initially used by Team CSC starting in 2007.[6] On November 25, 2007, Team Astana announced they will be powered by SRAM Red road componentry. On December 13, 2007, Trek Bicycle Corporation announced that they will supply the team bikes, tires and Bontrager components for Team Astana.
- Incomplete
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- General manager –
- Team manager – Johan Bruyneel
- Technical manager – Walter Godefroot
- Assistant Team Managers –
- Team Directors - Sean Yates, Viatcheslav Ekimov
It was announced on December 13, 2007 that Trek Bicycle Corporation will be the official team sponsor for all their cycling gear in 2008. Johan Bruyneel made the deal with Trek during an unrelated visit following the end of the 2007 Tour de France. This consistency in equipement will make the transition for the ex-Team Discovery riders a smooth one. It is also a key move for Trek Bicycle Corporation to give them a continued presence in the pro-cycling peleton in 2008 and beyond. Below is a photograph of the 2008 Trek Madone - Astana Team Bike.
- ^ 2007 UCI ProTeams. UCI. Retrieved on 2007-01-19.
- ^ List of Riders. Astana Team. Retrieved on 2007-07-17., minus Matthias Kessler ("Kessler dismissed by Team Astana", BBC Sport, 2007-07-13. Retrieved on 2007-07-17. ) and Eddy Mazzoleni ("Mazzoleni reveals Astana departure", CNN.com, 2007-07-16. Retrieved on 2007-07-17. )
- ^ Cycling News. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.
- ^ Vinokourov fired by Astana team. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
- ^ Astana Cycling Team suspends its activities for one month. team-astana.eu. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
- ^ http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-astanabruyneel&prov=reuters&type=lgns
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