Outliers: Astana Cycling Becoming a Refuge for Lost Cycling Souls

Since the mass exodus of Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel and a host of other talented cyclists from the Astana cycling team, the Kazakh-based squad has become a sort of refuge for riders who have had difficulty in past seasons. It seems as though many established, popular riders are staying far away from last season's most successful stage racing team, leaving management with no other choice but to seek athletes that are less desired by other teams.

Thus far the team has signed four riders, all of them carrying at least some baggage into the 2010 season. Paolo Tiralongo, David de la Fuente, Enrico Gasparotto, and of course Alexander Vinokourov will be a part of an Astana team that will most certainly have an underdog role in 2010.

Paolo Tiralongo, formerly of the Lampre team, comes to Astana looking to revive a career that has not seen the Italian win since 2004. He was a loyal domestique to Damiano Cunego throughout his time at Lampre, but he has nothing to show for himself individually over the past several years. Coming to Astana will surely see Tiralongo have a chance for a few wins for himself in 2010. Whether he'll remember how to win after such a long draught though remains to be seen.

David de la Fuente joins Atana from the Fuji-Servetto team. A known climbing commodity and a solid team rider, de la Fuente nevertheless has been enmeshed in the past in doping allegations. Before they were Fuji-Servetto, the team was known as Saunier-Duval. They were of course the team of known dopers Riccardo Ricco and Leonardo Piepoli. Whether de la Fuente doped may never be known , but his association with cheaters perhaps could have left him with few choices than to sign with the seemingly unstable Astana outfit.

Enrico Gasparotto, another Lampre castoff, had an abyssmal 2009 season, without one single win. A former Italian national champion, Gasparotto joins Astana with one intention: to add wins to his now soft palmares. Gasparotto openly complained about lack of opportunities with Lampre last year, and the Italian seems to feel that Astana will offer him his best chance of individual success next year. Like the other new riders for Astana, Gasparotto probably didn't have any other choice than to join Astana if he wanted a chance to ride for himself.

Alexander Vinokourov, more than any other rider in this article, has no other choice than to ride for Astana. An unapologetic cheating doper, Vino began Astana several years ago and now returns, defiant, to reclaim glory on the pro cycling front. However, at 36 years old and two seasons removed from the highest level of the sport, Vino shouldn't hope for any big returns to glory.

Unlike in 2009 when they were a clear powerhouse on the International cycling scene, the Astana team has been reduced to a wild card outlier with an uncertain future. The riders above will no doubt improve Astana's chances in one day races, but as far as grand tours, Astana will be an also ran. It will be interesting in the coming weeks to see who else the controversial Kazakh team can attract to ride for 2010. For now though, it will be left to the above four riders to fly the flag for Astana in 2010.