Italian outfit Lampre on Thursday announced the signing of disgraced Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin.

Kashechkin, 30, will start his one-year contract at the Italian stage race Brixia Tour on July 21-25.

The Kazakh made his name as a key support man for compatriot Alexandre Vinokourov while the pair raced for Astana.

After Astana’s expulsion from the race in 2007 following a positive blood doping test for Vinokourov, the anti-doping authorities targeted Kashechkin who failed a test a month later.

Kashechkin, a solid stage racer who finished the 2006 Tour of Spain in third place, was banned although that suspension ended last year.