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.
Alexander Nikolayevich Vinokourov is a Kazakhstani former professional road bicycle racer and the current general manager of UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team. He is of Russian origin. As a competitor, his achievements include two bronze medals at the World Championships, four stage wins in the Tour de France, four in the Vuelta a España plus the overall title in 2006, two Liège–Bastogne–Liège monuments, one Amstel Gold Race, and the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics Men's Road Race. Vinokourov is a past national champion of Kazakhstan, and a dual-medalist at the Summer Olympics. In 2007, he received a two-year ban from cycling for blood doping. In 2019, he was accused of race fixing by prosecutors in Liège but was later cleared of the charges.
The Tour of Qinghai Lake is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in the Qinghai province of China since 2002, named after Qinghai Lake. The race is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.HC race as part of the UCI Asia Tour. The race was to become part of the new UCI ProSeries in 2020, although the event in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 and 2022 events were held as a class 2.2 race with all domestic teams due to the international travel restrictions during the pandemic. The race returned to the UCI ProSeries in 2023.
Dmitry Fofonov is a former Kazakh professional road bicycle racer who was fired from UCI ProTeam Crédit Agricole for doping.
Andrey Sergeyevich Zeits is a Kazakh road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team. In 2009, Zeits rode the Giro d'Italia, the first grand tour of his career, which he finished in 31st place.
Dmitriy Nikolayevich Gruzdev is a Kazakhstani professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team.
Alexey Alexandrovich Lutsenko is a Kazakh professional cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team.
Daniil Fominykh is a Kazakh former road cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2012 to 2021. He now works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team Almaty Cycling Team.
Astana City was 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 City acted as a junior feeder team to Astana Qazaqstan Team, alongside Vino 4ever SKO. The team disbanded at the end of the 2019 season.
Astana is home to many sports teams.
Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev is a Kazakh former cyclist, who rode professionally for UCI WorldTeam Astana between 2015 and 2018.
Stepan Yuryevich Astafyev is a Kazakhstani professional racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Continental team Almaty Cycling Team. He rode in the men's team time trial at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships.
Zhandos Ermuratovich Bizhigitov is a Kazakhstani former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2013 and 2020, for the Continental Team Astana, Vino 4ever SKO and Astana teams. He rode in the men's team time trial at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships. He was named in the start list for the 2017 Giro d'Italia.
Yevgeniy Gidich is a Kazakhstani professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team. He rode in the men's team time trial at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships.
The 2018 Tour of Oman was a road cycling stage race that took place between 13 and 18 February 2018 in Oman. It was the ninth edition of the Tour of Oman and was rated as a 2.HC race as part of the 2018 UCI Asia Tour. The previous year's winner, Ben Hermans, did not defend his title.
Yuriy Natarov is a Kazakh cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team.
The 2018 Presidential Tour of Turkey was a road cycling stage race that took place between 9 and 14 October 2018 in Turkey. It was the 54th edition of the Presidential Tour of Turkey and the thirty-fifth event of the 2018 UCI World Tour. It was won by Eduard Prades of Euskadi–Murias.
The 2019 Tour of Oman was a road cycling stage race that took place in Oman between 16 and 21 February 2019. It was the tenth edition of the Tour of Oman, and was rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Asia Tour.
Yevgeniy Vasilyevich Fedorov, or Fyodorov, is a Kazakh professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Astana Qazaqstan Team.
Maxim Iglinsky (KAZ)
