Astana Qazaqstan is currently missing from the list of WorldTour applications; Vinokourov provides an explanation

On Friday, the international cycling union UCI published the list of teams that have applied for a WorldTour and ProTeam license. Notable omission: Astana Qazaqstan. The team led by Aleksandr Vinokourov is missing from the list. The team responded a day after the publication.

Teams had until October 15 to submit their applications. The UCI will now review the required documents to ensure they comply with UCI regulations. The list currently includes seventeen WorldTour teams, with Astana Qazaqstan being the only top-level team missing. However, the French team Arkéa-B&B Hotels is on the list, despite facing significant issues securing financing beyond 2025. They are also dealing with short-term problems, as they were forced to let go of riders Vincenzo Albanese and Clément Champoussin, even though they had ongoing contracts.

Although Astana is currently absent from the list, this does not necessarily mean they won’t be a WorldTour team next year. The UCI stated in their announcement: "It should be noted that some of these teams did not submit all the essential documents before the October 15, 2024 deadline. Therefore, they are not included in the list below." Riders like Cees Bol, Ide Schelling, Wout Poels, Darren van Bekkum and Mike Teunissen (recently announced as a new signing) will be hoping that Vinokourov can straighten out the situation soon.

Wout Poels will race for Astana Qazaqstan next year

Vinokourov responds, six women's teams apply for ProTeam licenses

Vinokourov has since responded to Cyclingnews. The Kazakh said that the issue is merely paperwork-related. "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. 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."

For the first time, women's cycling teams had the opportunity to apply for ProTeam status. Six teams took advantage of this opportunity, including the Dutch VolkerWessels team. Other teams on the list are the French Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Cofidis, St Michel-Mavic Auber93, the American EF Education-Oatly, and the Basque team Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi.

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