The Astana team has suspended Andrey Kashechkin because he has refused to conform to the new team regulations. He is still on the team but will not be able to participate in any races until he signs the Code of Conduct of Team Astana. He has been with the team since 2007. He was suspended from cycling for doping and just returned to racing in 2010.
Astana is eager to become a valid member of the Movement for Credible Cycling.
The following statement was posted on their website:
“As stakeholders in professional cycling and in full recognition of the importance in demonstrating publicly our determination to prevent doping, Pro Team Astana formally requests to join the Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Credible.
Damaging practices in the past have created problems for professional cycling’s future, placing the reputation, image and viability of the sport at serious risk. Neither the doping practices nor the environment that served to enable them can ever be allowed to happen again.
On the basis of trust and transparency, Pro Team Astana finds the MPCC Code of Conduct to be a credible, voluntary step towards protecting and reestablishing the positive, clean image of professional cycling.
We share the MPCC’s belief that riders, managers and sponsors in professional cycling have the obligation and capacity to say no to doping, and call on the UCI to recognize the MPCC as a viable intermediary among teams, organizers and Cycling Federations.”
