Astana Qazaqstan Team presents its 2024 roster
Astana Qazaqstan Team is happy to confirm its official roster for 2024 season, team’s 19th season in the highest league of world of cycling.
The team built around Kazakh champion Alexey Lutsenko and one of the best sprinters of all times Mark Cavendish is welcoming 14 new riders, two of them are coming from Astana Qazaqstan Development Team (Harold Martin Lopez and Nicolas Vinokurov) and another two are coming from other Kazakh projects (Daniil Marukhin and Anton Kuzmin).
“I believe that we created a well-balanced roster with a good ratio of young talents and experienced riders, well-known and respected in the peloton. So, we are thinking about some big goals in the upcoming season. We got some important experience in the matter of sprint and by strengthening this direction towards 2024 we can aim high in the bunch sprint in all kinds of races. Besides, I believe that with the riders we have and with the riders who come to the team we will be competitive in week-long stage races and the classics. Well, on paper we are missing a rider, who can fight for the General Classification in a Grand Tour, but let’s see, how the season will go on. We have talented strong riders, and we won’t be statists in the Grand Tours. After a few tough years we are quite optimistic about the upcoming season, and we are looking forward to begin 2024 in a great way. We understand that alongside the goals of the professional calendar, one of the main starts of the season will be the Olympic Games in Paris, and the team will do all possible to prepare the riders to compete at the Olympics at the highest level. The goals of the National Team of Kazakhstan have always been and remain a priority for Astana Qazaqstan Team, therefore, special attention is and will be paid to the training of athletes and the full technical support of the National Team representing Kazakhstan not only at the Olympics, but also at the Asian Championships, World Championships and Asian Games”, – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of Astana Qazaqstan Team.
The full 2024 rider roster includes 29 riders:
Davide Ballerini (Italy), Samuele Battistella (Italy), Cees Bol (Netherlands), Gleb Brussenskiy (Kazakhstan, Asian Champion), Mark Cavendish (Great Britain), Anthon Charmig (Denmark), Igor Chzhan (Kazakhstan), Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kazakhstan), Lorenzo Fortunato (Italy), Gianmarco Garofoli (Italy), Michele Gazzoli (Italy), Yevgeniy Gidich (Kazakhstan), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kazakhstan), Max Kanter (Germany), Anton Kuzmin (Kazakhstan), Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstani Champion), Harold Martin Lopez (Ecuador), Daniil Marukhin (Kazakhstan), Henok Mulubrhan (Eritrea, African Champion), Michael Mørkøv (Denmark), Vadim Pronskiy (Kazakhstan), Christian Scaroni (Italy), Ide Schelling (Netherlands), Rüdiger Selig (Germany), Gleb Syritsa (Neutral athlete), Harold Tejada (Colombia), Santiago Umba (Colombia), Simone Velasco (Italian Champion), Nicolas Vinokurov (Kazakhstan).
Photo credit: @SprintCycling