OFFICIAL: Astana recruits track world champion to bolster their sprint train

The current New Zealand Road Race Champion, Oceania Time Trial Champion and defending World Champion in Points Race on Track, Aaron Gate, has signed a one-year contract with the World Tour team Astana Qazaqstan Team for the 2025 season.

The 33-year-old New Zealander comes over after a year in the Burgos-BH jersey for whom he has recently won the GC in two Chinese stage races, the 2.2 Trans-Himalaya Tour (a race at 3500m altitude!) and 2.Pro Tour of Hainan, finishing five times on a podium in the process and taking two stage wins at the later race.

Despite the fact that Gate's road season was deformed by focus to bring home a medal from the Olympic Games in summer, the Kiwi has still managed to rack up over 800 UCI points this year with still month of racing ahead. Astana will certainly hope that Gate can repeat such feat in their jersey next year.

"I am incredibly excited about joining Astana Qazaqstan Team," expressed Gate in a press release. "The team has been around for a long time, and even when I first started in cycling, this team was already achieving big victories and was one of those teams I followed on TV. Now, having the opportunity to wear this team’s jersey means a lot to me. I am looking forward to joining the team and getting the chance to race in new, bigger races next season. I am 100% ready to do everything I can to help the team achieve as much success as possible in the new season."

Team manager Alexandr Vinokurov is excited about the promise seen in Gate's 2024 season: "Aaron is having an amazing season at the Pro-Continental level, and overall, his performance in races over the past few years has been very high – lots of victories and podium finishes."

The team boss believes that Gate could be crucial to their plan of racking up UCI points in races across globe, mainly in Asia. "Bringing such a rider into the team is primarily an opportunity to fight for serious results in numerous races in Asia, where we need to maintain our status as one of the strongest Asian teams. Additionally, we would like to see Aaron Gate perform in some races in Europe, where he also has experience, both in classics and in week-long stage races."