Astana Qazaqstan Team have been reported to be late on their salary payments for the ongoing season as riders have not yet received their January salaries.
It is not the first time the Kazakh team goes under issues when it comes to this subject, back in 2020 there was discussion aswell around the period of early March where it was understood the team had the same lack of payments until around this time of year. It was communicated by the team that the delays were not due to lack of funding, but instead of bureaucratical demands.
Back in 2018 team manager Alexandre Vinokourov had raised concerns on the team's future due to these delay issues, revealing that these were not occasional but rather a frequent incident. Nevertheless the team has kept it's World Tour status over the last few years. This season the team is currently in 18th place at the UCI Points ranking, albeit missing the output of major riders like Gianni Moscon and Vincenzo Nibali. Alexey Lutsenko has already brought the team's first win at Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior, and towards the summer the team is expected to be more active towards the front as they will be targeting the Grand Tours.