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Cycling News

Sport

Laura Weislo

Astana Qazaqstan miss UCI deadline for 2025 registration

UCI Astana (Organization) Astana Qazaqstan (Geopolitical Entity) WorldTour (Organization) Alberto Contador VismaLease a Bike Cyclingnews

Astana Qazaqstan Team's British rider Mark Cavendish (C) flanked by teammates cycles to the finish line of the 15th stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 197,7 km between Loudenvielle and Plateau de Beille, in the Pyrenees mountains, southwestern France, on July 14, 2024. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP).

The UCI issued a list of 58 teams who have submitted all of their documents supporting their registration for the 2025 season, with 18 men's teams and 15 women's teams meeting the October 15 deadline to renew for the coming season.

All 17 of the current men's ProTeams applied for the same licence for next season, while eight women's teams applied for the newly introduced ProTeam status.

Ceratizit-WNT did not meet the deadline but the team stated to Cyclingnews that their application was held up by an administrative issue that has since been corrected, and they intend to remain in the WorldTour.

Astana Qazaqstan missed the deadline, too. The team from Kazakhstan were due to welcome Chinese carbon product manufacturer XDS Carbon-Tech as a sponsor to support "significant changes" in the team.

Team manager Alexandre Vinokourov played down the missed deadline in a statement to Cyclingnews.

"Indeed, during the process of submitting documents for the confirmation of our WorldTour license, a question arose regarding the wording of the bank guarantee document, and clarifications were requested, which the team provided," Vinokourov said.

"Unfortunately, additional coordination between the banks required some time, which is why our team was not included in the list published by the UCI today. In any case, the registration and license confirmation process with the UCI is proceeding in accordance with the requirements, and our team is not facing any difficulties."

Astana have lagged behind their fellow WorldTour teams in the UCI Rankings since 2023. They are well behind in the World Rankings that will determine which teams will meet the sporting criteria in the next round of promotion and relegation in 2026.

The team expected a long-term partnership with XDS Carbon-Tech to help them regain their status and compete with 'super teams' such as UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike.

By missing the deadline, the team could begin losing riders as UCI rules now allow them to terminate their contracts early. However, if the team can finalise their registration, the riders would lose the right to depart prematurely.

Most often, teams miss the deadline due to a missing document or detail and the registration is resolved before the next deadline. However, sometimes the team missing the October 15 deadline is a sign of major problems, as was the case for Qhubeka-Nexthash in 2022. That team failed to register and dissolved, with manager Doug Ryder forming the Q36.5 team in 2023.

Astana missed the deadline in 2009, leading to speculation that then-star rider Alberto Contador would leave the team. However, the outfit eventually registered for the top tier and Contador remained with the squad in 2010.

The UCI will finalise the registration of 2025 teams on December 10, 2024, after their external auditing firm PwC assesses each application to ensure teams meet the required ethical, financial and administrative criteria.