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🚴Astana Qazaqstan Team

Kazakhstan · Astana, Kazakhstan (Italian service course)

Major honours

5Grand Tour overall wins
2Tour de France overall wins
5Monument wins
2024Cavendish's record 35th Tour stage win

Founded in 2007 by a consortium of Kazakh state-owned companies around home star Alexander Vinokourov, this team has maintained the unusual model of a WorldTour outfit directly backed by a national government. Alberto Contador won the 2008 Giro and 2009 Tour, the latter sharing first and third overall with a returning Lance Armstrong on the same team. A second golden era came under Vincenzo Nibali, who won the 2013 Giro, 2014 Tour and 2016 Giro, adding Il Lombardia in 2015 and 2017 and Milan-San Remo in 2018. Jakob Fuglsang won Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2019 and Il Lombardia in 2020. Doping controversy has repeatedly shadowed the team's history, however, including the annulment of Contador's 2010 Tour win over a clenbuterol positive. Mark Cavendish, signed in 2023, set the record for most career Tour stage wins at 35 in this jersey in 2024.

Record comparison

Grand Tour overall wins
5
Tour de France overall wins
2
Monument wins
5
Seasons active
19 seasons

Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.

Club legends

Alexander VinokourovAlberto ContadorVincenzo NibaliJakob FuglsangMark Cavendish

Rivalry

The internal conflict between Contador and Armstrong, wearing the same jersey at the 2009 Tour, remains this team's most famous episode. In the Nibali era that followed, the rivals for Grand Tour honours were Chris Froome's Sky and Contador's Tinkoff.

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