The Kazakh Champion and Tour de France stage winner, Alexey Lutsenko has extended his contract with the Kazakh-Canadian team for the upcoming season, rounding out Astana – Premier Tech’s final 31-rider roster for the 2021 season.
Alongside the new additions to the team, Canadian Steve Bauer, Olympic medalist and Tour de France stage winner, and former Kazakh rider Dmitriy Muravyev join the team as Sports Directors.
Kazakh champion Alexey Lutsenko expressed his happiness in continuing with the team:
“I think, I have improved significantly over the last few years and achieved many great results, which have been my goals for many years. Despite a difficult year, I still had a good season. Of course, the stage win at the Tour de France was the best moment. I am happy that the team wants to continue our journey. I am looking forward to achieving new goals and developing further as a rider. I will stay another year with this team, which makes me really happy. The team believes in me and shares my visions and goals.”
The team’s final roster for the 2021 season includes riders Alex ARANBURU; Samuele BATTISTELLA; Manuele BOARO; Gleb BRUSSENSKIY; Stefan DE BOD; Rodrigo CONTRERAS; Yevgeniy FEDOROV; Fabio FELLINE; Omar FRAILE; Jakob FUGLSANG; Yevgeniy GIDICH; Jonas GREGAARD WILSLY; Dmitriy GRUZDEV; Hugo HOULE; Gorka IZAGIRRE; Ion IZAGIRRE; Merhawi KUDUS; Alexey LUTSENKO; Davide MARTINELLI; Yuriy NATAROV; Benjamin PERRY; Andrea PICCOLO; Vadim PRONSKIY; Oscar RODRIGUEZ; Javier ROMO; Luis Leon SANCHEZ; Matteo SOBRERO; Nikita STALNOV; Harold TEJADA; Aleksandr VLASOV; and Artyom ZAKHAROV.
In addition to the riders, Steve Bauer and Dmitriy Muravyev join Astana – Premier Tech as Sports Directors.
Steve Bauer, who will join as Sports Director, expressed his excitement:
“I am very happy with the opportunity to join Astana – Premier Tech. The change will begin the next chapter for me, working with a new group of management, staff, and riders. As a Canadian, it is especially exciting to have Premier Tech as a co-title sponsor of the team in 2021. I look forward to meeting the team at January camp and I am motivated to work hard with everyone to achieve the sporting goals that will be set out.”
Dmitriy Muravyev, former rider, also shared his enthusiasm about joining the team as a Sports Director:
“I ended my professional career as a rider here and now I return as a Sports Director, which makes me really happy. I will use my knowledge and experience in my new work but I am also ready to absorb new things and continue to learn in order to share what I already know and what I will learn with the trainers, who are working in Kazakhstan. I am proud to start this new chapter in my career with this amazing project, Astana – Premier Tech, and hope that we will achieve great results together with our riders.”
The team’s Managing Director, Yana Seel, expressed her satisfaction with the roster and upcoming projects:
“We are very glad about this great line-up of riders and Sports Directors and I’m sure we will proudly represent Kazakhstan and our cosponsor Premier Tech in 2021. It’s important to mention that we kept 9 Kazakh riders in our roster and added another Canadian rider next to Hugo Houle, which is important for the projects we will start for the youth in Kazakhstan and Canada. We are ready to start making a difference in the world with these projects, while we keep entertaining cycling fans with our attractive way of racing. Last but not least, I really want to thank the riders who are leaving us, as well as our two Sports Directors. All of them did amazing work for the team over the years and gave it their all every day. We want to thank them for everything and wish all of them the best of luck for their future.”
The General Manager of Astana – Premier Tech, Alexandr Vinokurov, expressed his confidence in the team:
“I think we did a great job in signing new talents and extending with strong riders that proved themselves in our team in the past years. Our team is known for its attractive way of racing and I’m sure with this roster, we are able to compete on the highest level once again.”
