Headaches for Vinokourov and Astana: U23 rider tests positive for doping and what to do with Cavendish?

Astana Qazaqstan is busy injecting a Chinese sponsorship deal to boost the team for 2025, but the Kazakh cycling team is facing some headache issues in the process. Alexandre Vinokourov responded to Mark Cavendish's sneaky desire to continue in 2025 anyway, and the development team had a positive doping test.

According to official reports, the Kazakh Ilkhan Dostiyev tested positive for CERA, a third-generation EPO that made its rise long ago but was no longer useful in 2024. However, Dostiyev tested positive for the drug on July 30, a few days after he finished second in the Italian U23 race Giro del Valle de Aosta.

Dostiyev went on to win the Tour of Romania in 2024 and finished second in this year's Tour du Rwanda. The 22-year-old Astana Qazaqstan Development Team climber is logically suspended for the time being. He had been riding for Astana since the beginning of this year, having transferred from the continental Vino SKO Team, a training team owned by Alexandre Vinokourov.

In an official statement, the Astana Qazaqstan Development Team announced that it had noted the positive doping test. "The rider has admitted to having used the banned substance in an explanation to the team and the UCI. Ilkhan Dostiyev was then immediately suspended, and his contract was terminated. 'This news came as a shock and is very disappointing,2 said sporting director Alexandr Shushemoin.

He continued: "We trusted Ilkhan as one of our leaders and had high expectations with him. Those have now been destroyed. I can say that the Astana Qazaqstan Development Team was not involved in this incident. We have a zero-tolerance policy and do our best to convince our riders of the consequences of doping. We fully cooperate with the organizations involved in this case, with all the details of what happened."

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Can Vinokourov still use a motivated Cavendish at Astana?

The Astana Qazaqstan team boss can't handle the positive doping test. His team is looking for reinforcements to still rake in UCI points for the UCI rankings at the end of this year and in 2025. After the following season, a place among the first 18 is necessary to get a WorldTour license in the 2026-2028 cycle. Astana is ranked No. 21 at the time of writing, so Alberto Bettiol was already acquired from EF Education-EasyPost in August. For 2025, Wout Poels will be coming over from Bahrain. Victorious.

There is still a question mark behind Cavendish's name. The 39-year-old Briton seemed to end his career in style, with a record-breaking 35th stage win at the Tour de France. In the Tour of Britain, however, Cav left the door open for a continuation of his career. "I don't know yet if I will race next year. I will race this year, so I'm not done for this season. After that, I don't know, the future will tell."

Vinokourov, however, commented to cycling journalist Daniel Benson that a continuation of Cavendish's career "would not be logical.