Sponsoring With Pride: the Astana Cycling Team

During the 2006 cycling season, when the Liberty Seguros-Wurth team fell prey to the Operacion Puerto doping case, Astana stepped in to sponsor the team, a team that included leading Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov. During the second half of the 2006 season, Vinokourov went on to win the Vuelta a Espana as part of the Astana cycling team.

The Astana group is a coalition of state-owned companies in Kazakhstan, and is named after the country’s capital city. While the Astana group hoped to revive the sanctity of Kazakh cycling, the next few years still proved scandalous, and only by bringing Johan Buryneel on board was the Astana cycling team able to save face.

A Rocky Road to Glory

The Astana cycling team initially had trouble receiving a ProTour license. While they tried to purchase the original license of the former Liberty Seguros-Wurth team, the owner was reluctant to sell. The team, now based in Switzerland under the management of Marc Biver, decided to apply for their own license, and while at first they were informed they would not be able to ride in the 2007 season, they received their four-year ProTour license in December of 2006.

At the 2007 Tour de France, team-leader Vinokourov won the time-trial. However, he tested positive for blood doping, and the entire Astana cycling team withdrew from the competition. The team sacked Vinokourov and suspended all activities in August of 2007 to establish new regulations. In 2008, the Astana group brought Johan Bruyneel on board to replace Biver as the team’s manager. The former director of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, Bruyneel started afresh with the Astana cycling team, hiring numerous former Discovery riders including Alberto Contador, the winner of the 2007 Tour de France.

First and foremost, Bruyneel introduced Rasmus Damsgarrd’s anti-doping system to the Astana cycling team, a system initially used by the Discovery team. Bruyneel also signed a contract with the Trek Bicycle Corporation, supplying the entire Astana cycling team with bicycles and components. Sadly, even with Bruyneel’s dedication and intuition, the Astana cycling team remains at a standstill.

In February of 2008, the organizers of the Tour de France announced that the team will be barred from competing in the 2008 competition due to its links to both the 2007 doping scandals and Operacion Puerto. Contador will be unable to defend his Tour de France title, as his contract includes no escape clause that covers his team’s current situation. While the Astana cycling team will be able to compete elsewhere, the Tour de France remains the pinnacle of professional cycling, and the February announcement remains a great disappointment.