Tour de France stage winner explains Astana Qazaqstan absence from UCI list: “Our team is not experiencing any difficulties”

Astana Qazaqstan have missed the UCI registration deadline for the upcoming 2025 season. Each year the International Cycling Union releases a statement listing the professional teams that have submitted their registration applications for the following season. However, when the list was published on Friday evening, Astana Qazaqstan was notably absent.

Speaking about the situation, Alexandre Vinokourov, the general manager of Astana Qazaqstan and a former four-time Tour de France stage winner and 2006 Vuelta a España champion, acknowledged the reason behind their absence.

"A question arose regarding the wording of the bank guarantee document," admitted Vinokourov to Cyclism'Actu. He further explained, "Indeed, during the process of submitting documents for confirmation of our WorldTour license, a question arose regarding the wording of the bank guarantee document, and clarifications were requested, which the team provided."

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Despite this hiccup, Vinokourov remains confident that the situation is under control. "Unfortunately, additional coordination between banks took some time, which is why our team was not included in the list published today by the UCI,” he told CyclingNews. In any case, the process of registration and license confirmation with the UCI is proceeding in accordance with the requirements and our team is not experiencing any difficulties."

Although Astana Qazaqstan are temporarily missing from the UCI’s World Tour list, the team has assured fans that this is a minor issue, and they are working to resolve it swiftly.