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Sponsors stick with Bruyneel

Kazakhs support Astana despite setbacks

Published: Feb. 20, 2008
Bruyneel says Astana sponsorship remains sound
Bruyneel says Astana sponsorship remains sound
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Any race invitation is good news for Team Astana these days.

After weeks of reeling from exclusions from such races as the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and some of the major spring classics, the beleaguered team learned Tuesday that organizers of the Circuit de la Sarthe have welcomed the squad to the April race.

That news comes as Astana team boss Johan Bruyneel traveled to Kazakhstan this week to huddle with sponsors to gauge support following the devastating news that Tour champ Alberto Contador would not be allowed to defend his title come July.

Despite the cold shoulder from Giro and Tour organizers, team sponsors are firmly backing the new-look Astana team moving forward into what will be a much-depleted racing calendar.

“I am very appreciative of the unconditional support the team has received from our Kazakh sponsors and Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov,” Bruyneel said in a team communiqué. “Though they are frustrated and disappointed by the news and cycling’s political battles, they continue to have faith in this team and new program.”

Bruyneel said the team would move forward with an adjusted race schedule that likely should include most of the ProTour events.

Contador, for example, will be racing at the Tour of Murcia in Spain instead of defending his title in Paris-Nice while other team leaders Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden are studying their options.

Bruyneel, who led Lance Armstrong to seven straight Tour crowns and pushed Contador to victory in last year’s scandal-plagued Tour, was brought in by team sponsors to help right the Astana ship.

In 2007, the team was hammered by doping scandals involving team captains Alexandre Vinokourov and Andrey Kashechkin and exited last year’s Tour in disgrace.

Somewhat surprisingly, the consortium of Kazakh sponsors decided to plow ahead with the sponsorship despite the string of debilitating scandals. They tapped Bruyneel to herald a new start for the team.

Bruyneel replaced most of the management staff and brought a core group of riders and support crew over from the now-defunct Discovery Channel team. He also introduced a new anti-doping testing policy similar to Team CSC’s and says he’s spending more than 400,000 euros on anti-doping efforts within the team.

That wasn’t enough, however, for skeptical race organizers such as ASO and RCS Sport. Both organizations have told Astana that the team will not be allowed in its marquee events.

Bruyneel said continued support from sponsors as well as a growing chorus of anger from fans over the team’s exclusion from cycling’s major races bodes well for the future of the team.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation for not only our riders, but also the sport of cycling. Through these times we have felt an overwhelming amount of support and I am grateful to our sponsors and fans who continue to show their loyalty to the new Astana team,” he said. “It appears that only a few powerful race organizers do not recognize that we are an entirely different team from 2007 and should be allowed to compete in the world’s biggest races.”

Despite suggestions from ASO that Contador and others could switch teams and still compete in the 2008 Tour, none of the team’s riders have considered changing squads so far.

Bruyneel also harped at what he viewed as inconsistency from race organizers. On Tuesday, RCS Sport also denied entry for the team to Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo without giving a strong reason why.

“The decisions handed down by the organizers are inconsistent. RCS originally told us that our Giro d’Italia squad was not to their competitive expectations. Now RCS has not invited us to Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico, where team leader Andreas Klöden was prepared to defend his 2007 title,” Bruyneel said. “It’s very hard to understand these decisions when there are no rational and consistent reasons behind them. We continually attempt to reach RCS for further explanation and wait for proper justification as we still hope to participate in future RCS events.”