Astana for the Vuelta a España

By Antonio J. Salmerón

UCI ProTour Astana has already named its provisional line up for the Vuelta a España, which starts on August 26. Unipublic is allowing the team to take part in the race in accordance with the UCI's decision to allow it to continue, although there is still discussion about which licence it will race under. The yet to be finalised sale of the Active Bay licence to Astana, and the changes announced in the Astana organisational structure have not been considered to be grounds for Unipublic to exclude the team, even if Unipublic initially didn't want to allow any Astana rider implicated in Operacion Puerto.

The Vuelta team will consist of Carlos Barredo, Assan Bazayev, Alberto Contador, Andrey Kashechkin, Aaron Kemps, Sergio Paulinho, Luis Leon Sanchez, Alexander Vinokourov and Sergey Yakovlev. Among the substitutes, there are Jose Joaquin Rojas, Koen de Kort, Dani Navarro, Jose Antonio Redondo and Eladio Sanchez.

Astana has also announced its lineup for the Vuelta a Burgos (August 6-10): Aaron Kemps, Koen de Kort, Alberto Contador, Carlos Abellán, Dariusz Baranowski, Dani Navarro, Eladio Sánchez and José Joaquín Rojas and the Clásica de San Sebastián (August 12): Assan Bazayev, Andrey Kashechkin, Aaron Kemps, Koen de Kort, José Antonio Redondo, Luis León Sánchez, Alexander Vinokourov and Sergey Yakovlev.