The largest query of 2022 nonetheless stays unresolved upon the arrival of 2023 – which staff will Mark Cavendish be racing with this season? The reported signing with Astana Qazaqstan is but to be confirmed and Cavendish was not within the staff’s press photograph.
The photograph is more likely to have been shot earlier than staff supervisor Alexandre Vinokourov supposedly prolonged the provide to Cavendish, who was not renewed with Quickstep and spent a number of months in limbo because the B&B Accommodations-KTM undertaking collapsed.
Vinokourov instructed Cyclingnews in mid-December that when he heard the staff fell aside, he instantly reached out to Cavendish to debate his plans. Additionally it is rumoured that sprinter Cees Bol would even be becoming a member of the staff from the failed squad.
Nonetheless, the transfer is sophisticated by the truth that Astana have 29 riders underneath contract and 29 pictured within the press photograph, that means there is just one spot accessible until a rider is demoted.
The UCI, who solely publish riders within the staff itemizing if their contracts have been validated, omits Christian Scaroni, who joined mid-2022 from the now defunct Gazprom-Rusvelo staff, however the 25-year-old is pictured within the staff photograph.
Cavendish was noticed at Astana’s resort in Altea, the place they’ve been holding their coaching camp in December and was additionally seen using a Wilier, the bike model who sponsor Astana.
Bol logged a coaching trip on Strava that confirmed him on the identical climbs as Astana’s present riders using the identical tempo.
Astana revealed the 12 riders of their growth staff on December 19, a number of days after the report of the provide to Cavendish, and not one of the WorldTour riders had been moved to that squad.
Astana Qazaqstan 2023 riders
- Leonardo Basso
- Samuele Battistella
- Manuele Boaro
- Gleb Brussenskiy
- David de la Cruz
- Joe Dombrowski
- Yevgeniy Fedorov
- Fabio Felline
- Yevgeniy Gidich
- Dmitriy Gruzdev
- Martin Laas
- Alexey Lutsenko
- Davide Martinelli
- Gianni Moscon
- Yuriy Natarov
- Antonio Nibali
- Vadim Pronskiy
- Alexandr Riabushenko
- Javier Romo
- Luis León Sánchez
- Christian Scaroni (?)
- Harold Tejada
- Simone Velasco
- Artyom Zakharov
- Andrey Zeits
- Igor Chzhan*
- Gianmarco Garofoli*
- Nurbergen Nurlykhassym*
- Gleb Syritsa*
* = neo-pro
(?) = not listed on UCI staff web page