The Astana Qazaqstan Team will build on the stellar performances by Alexey Lutsenko and Samuele Battistella at the end of 2021 to start the new season in full swing. 2022 will be a year of great talents paired with great expectations.
Astana was the absolute late-season protagonist of the 2021 racing calendar, with triumphs by Alexey Lutsenko and Samuele Battistella dominating the Coppa Agostoni, the Serenissima Gravel and the Veneto Classic. It is with these foundations that the Astana Qazaqstan Team will usher in 2022, with the arrival of names that are sure to bring home important results.
Vincenzo Nibali, Gianni Moscon, Miguel Ángel López and Alexey Lutsenko will all be part of the rock-solid roster competing in another top-level season for both stage races and the Classics.
The return of Vincenzo Nibali is a guarantee of competitiveness on all terrains, but most importantly of someone very familiar with the ins and outs of first-class cycling. His presence will definitely benefit, for different reasons, riders like Alexey Lutsenko and Miguel Ángel López who, in 2022, will be pursuing their definitive consecration.
Alexey Lutsenko’s 7th place overall in the 2021 Tour de France is evidence of how his performance continues to rise. This now sets the bar for the new year’s goal: a podium at the Tour in 2022, with forays into one-day races like the ones that took him to the top of the rankings at the close of the 2021 season.
Miguel Ángel López will captain the Astana Qazaqstan Team at the Giro d’Italia 2022 with the aim of improving his 2019 placings but, even more so, those of 2018. However, there is no ruling out his participation in the Tour de France where, with the Astana jersey, he was able to achieve the greatest accomplishment of his career so far: a win in the 2020 Méribel to Col de la Loze, validated by his 6th place placement in the general classification.
As for Gianni Moscon, he guarantees an aggressive approach to the Classics of the North season, given the huge impact he had on the last Paris-Roubaix. His determination will be instrumental on the roads of the Tour de France as well, where he will do his best to take advantage of every opportunity in the stages most suited to him.
There is also the anticipation of seeing riders such as David De La Cruz who, with Astana, will be given the space to showcase his talent in stage races, and Samuele Battistella who, galvanised by his first professional victory in the Veneto Classic, will attempt to put himself right up there behind Gianni Moscon in the Classics.
Alexander Vinokourov is very clear: “We’ve aimed for a very competitive team in both one-day races and, particularly, the Grand Tours, so we’re expecting excellent results on every terrain. Of course, at Astana we have high hopes for great outcomes in the upcoming season. But we are well aware that, without such a reliable partner as Wilier Triestina, we couldn’t imagine achieving the targets we’ve set for ourselves”.
Like 2021, the 2022 season will see Wilier Triestina bikes – Filante SLR, Wilier 0 SLR and Wilier Turbine – favour the experience of Nibali, confirm the expected performance by Lutsenko and Miguel Ángel López in the Grand Tours, and support Gianni Moscon during the Spring Classics series.
The team is also happy to announce the creation of a new UCI Continental team for Under 23 riders. The new project will be named Astana Qazaqstan Development Team and it will be focused on nurturing young talented riders, who will have a chance to move to the WorldTour level in the future.
The team is going to be created under the same juridical structure as the main UCI World Tour Astana Qazaqstan Team and in the upcoming season of 2022 it will be aimed to the most prestigious Under 23 as well as Elite races all around Europe.
