Michele Gazzoli will get a chance to restart his career at Astana's DT

Astana Qazaqstan Development Team has signed a short-term agreement until the end of the 2023 season with the Italian rider Michele Gazzoli, who until last summer competed for Astana Qazaqstan Team.

In the summer of 2022, the International Cycling Union (UCI) classified the violation of anti-doping rules by Gazzoli as accidental and unintentional, which is why the disciplinary penalty was limited to one year of disqualification and the cancellation of the results of just the Volta ao Algarve. Now, Michele Gazzoli is free to race again.

"Michele has already received his punishment for the mistake, and now he has the opportunity to correct it, to try to restart his career. The young rider deserves such a chance. What happened last year was a tragic accident, the UCI accepted all explanations and agreed with it, deciding that the violation was unintentional."

"Therefore, through our continental team, we would like to help Michele try to rehabilitate himself and continue his career. It won’t be easy, and the rider has no guarantee ahead of him. But we know that Michele has been training hard all this time, that he still has a huge motivation and goals that he would like to achieve."

"The contract with the continental team is signed for the last three months of the season, during which Michele will have the opportunity to compete in the races with the continental team, as well as one or two times to race with Astana Qazaqstan Team. What will happen next depends solely on the rider and how he will use this chance," said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of Astana Qazaqstan Team.