Astana Kazakhstan, who are in danger of being relegated from the world team, have announced the addition of four staff members in hopes of making a comeback next season. Alex Dorsett (UK), a former hour record world record holder who retired in 2022, has been appointed as performance engineer.
Alex Dorsett (UK) who will retire in 2022 photo: CorVos
Alex Dorsett (UK) is 36 years old and made his professional debut with Sky Pro Cycling (now Ineos Grenadiers) in 2011. After that, he worked for Movistar and Katusha-Alpecin before retiring at Israel Startup Nation (currently Israel Premier Tech) in 2022.
During his career, he won the British TT Championship six times and won the Giro d’Italia twice. He also challenged the hour record in 2015, breaking the then world record with a distance of 52.937km. Outside of competition, he started a foundation for people with hemophilia, which he suffers from, and in October of this year he wrote a book about his illness and active life.bloody minded‘ was published.
Alex Dorsett (Great Britain) wins his second Giro 2020 photo: CorVos
Astana Kazakhstan have now announced that Dorsett will be joining them as a performance engineer. GM Aleksandr Vinokurov said: “Alex will help us optimize player positions, test equipment and improve time trials. Given the latest projects (in the team) to improve technical areas, we will be working on improving biomechanics and aerodynamics. “I think Alex, with his deep expertise in dynamics, is a valuable asset,” he said of his expectations for Dorsett.
At the same time, it was also announced that Helmut Dollinger (Austria) from Q36.5 Pro Cycling, as well as a conditioning coach and data analysis staff, will be joining the team as a manager.
Astana are currently in 21st place, with the world team promotion set to take place at the end of 2025 (world team licenses are given to players up to 18th place). With the addition of China’s XDS as a new sponsor, the team has acquired players such as Wout Pouls (Netherlands, Bahrain Victorious) and Diego Ulissi (Italy, UAE Team Emirates) due to increased funding. We have also started to strengthen the staff that supports the athletes.
text:Sotaro.Arakawa
photo:CorVos
