Team Astana suspends Andrey Kashechkin for not signing code of conduct
In wake of Lance Armstrong’s doping case, all the cycling teams have tightened screws to ensure such incidents do not recur on their side.
Cyclists have been asked to sign the doping code of conduct by several teams and immediate termination has been observed in case a rider refuses to take the oath.
Recently Team Astana suspended Andrey Kashechkin as he failed to cope up with the team’s internal rules, as confirmed by the team on Friday.
The cyclist will still be included at the team’s 2013 roster but will not be able to ride until he sign the document.
“Effective immediately, for failure to agree to the squad's internal regulations. The Kazakhstan rider remains on the 2013 team roster, but cannot be included in race calendar submissions until his signature is received on Pro Team Astana's internal
Code of Conduct,” the team stated.
“Neither the doping practices nor the environment that served to enable them can ever be allowed to happen again”.
“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,”
it concluded.
The 32-year-old marked his professional debut with Team Domo-Farm Frites in 2001 and stayed with the team by the end of 2002 before moving to Team Quick-Davitamon for 2003 season.
Kashechkin spent a period of two years with Team Credit Agricole (2004-05) and spent a year each with Team Liberty Seguros-Wurth (2006), Team Astana (2007) before moving to Team Astana for 2010-11.
The cyclist joined the Kazakhstani side, Team Astana in 2011 and will continue his third consecutive season with the team, only if the he agrees to sign the doping code of conduct.
Team Astana earned a total number of 645 UCI points during the 2012 season and occupied the tenth overall position.
Roman Kreuziger (189 points), Enrico Gasparotto (150 points), Janez Brajkovic (106 points), Maxim Iglinsky (100 points) made the major contributions.
It will be interesting to see, if the terms between Team Astana and Andrey Kashechkin comes to an agreement, which is mandatory for the cyclist to mark an appearance in the season ahead.
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