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The Associated Press
Published: August 20, 2007

GENEVA: Astana cyclists will resume ProTour racing on Sept. 2 at the Grand Prix Ouest de France Plouay.

In the meantime, the team is working with the Swiss Olympic Association to quickly set up a system of independent and external anti-doping controls, the team said Monday.

Astana was initially expected to end its self-imposed suspension on Sept. 1 and make its comeback at the Spanish Vuelta, but organizers in Spain withdrew the beleaguered team’s invitation as a result of three recent positive doping tests.

Astana said it was too early to names its cyclists for the French race, but added that all its riders are “thirsty for kilometers and efforts after one month of suspension.”

The team suspended its activities when Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for a blood transfusion after winning the 13th stage of the Tour de France. Astana subsequently fired Vinokourov after his “B” sample confirmed the positive result.

Andrej Kashechkin, who finished third in the 2006 Vuelta, also tested positive for homologous blood doping in an unannounced control in Belek, Turkey, on Aug. 1.

A third Astana rider, Matthias Kessler, tested positive for abnormally elevated levels of testosterone in a surprise test on April 24 in Charleroi, Belgium. He was suspended from the team before the July 7 start of the Tour de France.

Previously known as Liberty Seguros, the Switzerland-based team had returned to the Tour this year after being banned in 2006 when several of its riders were linked to Operation Puerto, a Spanish doping investigation that has implicated more than 50 riders.

Astana’s ProTour racing license could be in jeopardy again since the current one was only granted by the International Cycling Union “due to the lack of information from the Spanish authorities and the extremely confusing state of affairs with Operation Puerto.”

The team has been snubbed by several ProTour organizers.

Under a compromise that barely staved off a boycott and a possible split in the sport at the start of the season, the big tour organizers don’t need to invite all the ProTour teams as previously required. Instead, they can invite just the top 18 teams and decide whether to offer wild-card entries to Astana and Belgian-Swedish team Unibet.