Astana (cycling Team)

Astana (cycling Team)

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 and 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.