Can we see World Tour team disappear? Astana miss out on deadline to submit application for 2025

Behind the scenes and away from the spotlight, the management of all professional teams have been hard at work over the past few weeks and months to collect and present all the documents to apply for a racing license for the 2025 season. The deadline was the 15th of October and the UCI has released the list of teams that have made such request, but it's missing a key team: Astana Qazaqstan Team.

Whilst this does not necessarily mean the team will disband it comes as a very unusual situation, as the team has indeed missed the deadline and will in theory be in communication with the UCI and is preparing to submit the application soon. Most likely, this comes as a consequence of a new title sponsor coming in from China, who who is still unknown - but the money is certainly coming in taking into consideration the Kazakh's moves on the market.

The team signed Alberto Bettiol with immediate effect earlier this summer and after the departure of leaders such as Mark Cavendish and Alexey Lutsenko, the team is signing the likes of Wout Poels, Sergio Higuita, Diego Ulissi and most recently Mike Teunissen.

All riders who can certainly add to the team's UCI points tally but the truth is the future is not bright for the Kazakh team, who faces almost certain relegation next season due to it's lack of points. Even if these moves make a difference towards the next year it would still be necessary to be above several rival teams by several thousands of points.