Astana Qazaqstan Team is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Samruk-Kazyna, 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 Kazakh 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. Under Bruyneel the ethical nature of the team did not improve, although Astana in this period was very successful.
Alexey Lutsenko and Ion Izagirre at the 2021 Tour de la Provence
Alexander Vinokourov – Vuelta-2006 winner
2008 team car
Alberto Contador
Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
Image: Central Downtown Astana 2
Image: Astana DSC04362 (7711355642)
Image: Central Downtown Astana 1
Image: Nazarbayev University