Team confirms that Santos Tour Down Under will be his first race of 2012
Days after he was suspended for failing to sign the team’s internal regulations, Andrey Kashechkin has complied with Astana’s demands on the issue and has now been given a green light to continue his racing schedule as planned.
“Pro Team Astana has reinstated rider Andrey Kashechkin following a provisional suspension for having failed to sign in agreement with the squad’s internal regulations,” the team confirmed today.
“The Kazakhstan rider returns with full status to the 2013 team roster, and can be included in race calendar submissions following the receipt of his signature on Pro Team Astana’s Internal Code of Conduct.”
Kashechkin was listed by Santos Tour Down Under organisers as taking part in the race next month, and the Astana team has now confirmed this will indeed be the case.
Now 32 years of age, Kashechkin became part of the team in 2006 when the backers took over the vacated ProTour licence held by the Liberty Seguros – Wurth team. The latter stopped in the wake of Operacion Puerto, with the then-manager Manolo Saiz and several riders being implicated in the doping investigation.
Both Kashechkin and team leader Alexander Vinokurov missed out on that year’s Tour de France, but finished third and first respectively in the 2006 Vuelta a España.
The duo were suspended the following year due to positive tests for autologous transfusions, but returned to Astana afterwards.
Vinokurov won the Olympic road race last July in London, but has since retired and become the general manager of the team. Kashechkin has indicated he is likely to race for several more seasons, and was third on the opening stage of the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné.