The Tour de France-winning team Astana will sign a three-year sponsorship deal today with Kazakhstan's vast state holding company, the Kazakh Cycling Federation's deputy president, Nikolai Proskurin, has said.
The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but Proskurin said the contract would solve the financial difficulties that had threatened the team's existence. and that details proving Astana's financial viability would be submitted to cycling's governing body in the near future.
The International Cycling Union had warned that the team's troubles could endanger its chances of securing a new four-year licence. Astana's current licence is due to expire at the end of next year, but recurring delays in paying salaries to riders prompted the UCI to demand guarantees of the team's financial stability by mid-October.
Over the past season Astana's riders held protests over debts owed by the KCF. During the Giro d'Italia, the then Astana rider Lance Armstrong led team-mates in a protest in which they wore jerseys with the sponsor's name faded out.
Samruk-Kazyna, a state holding that encompasses some of the energy-rich country's largest companies, including the oil and gas company Kazmunaigas and national airline Air Astana, will be the team's exclusive backer up to and including 2012, Proskurin said.
"They will be the general sponsor and will take all the expenditures upon themselves," he said.
Astana's top rider, Spain's Alberto Contador, won the Tour de France for the second time in July with the seven-time Tour champion Armstrong finishing third. Armstrong announced during the race that he was leaving Astana to form his own team for 2010, with Radio Shack as the sponsor.
Contador's contract runs into 2010. The new sponsorship deal will make it difficult for the Spaniard to terminate his role with Astana before his contract expires.
The Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has taken personal interest in the fate of the team, which is seen as a prestige project for the Central Asian nation.