Alexey Lutsenko will remain at Astana Premiere Tech in 2021. The team has also decided to appoint Steve Bauer and Dmitry Muraviev as sporting directors, and the backroom shakeup continues.

Lutsenko scored the biggest win of his career at this year's Tour de France with a solo victory on stage 6 at Mont Aigoual. The Kazakhstani champion was an outsider for the following World Championships in Imola, but was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from the race.

The 28-year-old's contract expired at the end of the season, but he decided to stay with Astana, where he had spent his career, winning the under-23 road race at the 2012 World Championships in Valkenburg before moving from Astana's Continental team to the World Tour. He stepped up to the World Tour.

"I think I have grown a lot in the last few years and have achieved many great results, which has been my goal for many years. It was a difficult year, but we still had a good season," Lusenko said in a statement released by Astana-Premier Tech on Wednesday. [Of course, winning a stage at the Tour de France was a great moment. I am happy that the team wants to continue our journey. I look forward to achieving new goals and growing even more as a rider. I am very happy to be staying with this team for another year. The team believes in me and shares my vision and goals."

Lusenko is the last rider announced for the 2021 roster, which Astana-Premier Tech has confirmed will feature 31 riders.

Miguel Angel Lopez has moved from Astana to Movistar, while Jacob Fuglsang and Alexandre Vlasov remain with the team.

In a statement Wednesday, Astana-Premier Tech confirmed that Steve Bauer will join as director sportif for 2021. The addition of Bauer, a former maillot jaune, follows the announcement that Canada's Premier Tech will be the team's first title sponsor from outside Kazakhstan. Bauer will serve as the CCC team's sport manager in 2020, having previously served as manager of the BMC and SpiderTech teams.

"This change marks the beginning of the next chapter for me, working with new management, staff, and riders," said Bauer, who finished fourth overall in the 1988 Tour.

"As a Canadian, I am particularly excited that Premier Tech will be the team's co-title sponsor in 2021, and I look forward to meeting the team at camp in January and am motivated to work with everyone to achieve the sporting goals that will be set I am looking forward to working with you."

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Former Astana rider Dmitry Muraviev has also joined the team as a Directeur Sportif. The Kazakhstani rider was a two-time member of the team before retiring in 2014.

"I will use my knowledge and experience in my new job, but I am also ready to absorb and continue learning new things to share what I already know and will learn with the trainers working in Kazakhstan," Muraviev said.

Bauer and Muraviev replace longtime Astana-Premier Tech staffers Alexander Scheffer and Dmitry Sedun. Dmitry Fofonov, Bruno Sengiarta, Giuseppe Martinelli, Stefano Zanini, and Sergey Yakovlev will remain with the team in 2021. Aleksandr Vinokurov will remain as general manager, but he appears to have little influence over team operations.

In a statement, Astana managing director Yana Seal thanked Scheffer and Sedun, as well as the departing Lopez, Lawrence de Vries, Zandos Bizigitov, Daniil Fominyukh, and Hernando Bohorquez for their contributions.

"They all did a great job for the team over the years and gave their all every day. We want to thank them for everything they have done and wish them all the best for the future.

"It is important that we kept nine Kazakhstani riders on the roster and added another Canadian rider after Hugo Houle, which is important for the project we are starting for the youth of Kazakhstan and Canada. "

Astana-Premier Tech 2021 finalists: Alex Aramburu, Samuele Battistella, Manuele Boaro, Gleb Brusensky, Stefan Debod, Rodrigo Contreras, Evgeny Fedorov, Fabio Ferrigne, Omar Freire, Jakub Fuglsang, Evgeny Gizic, Jonas Gregard Wilsley, Dmitry Gruzdev, Hugo Fule, Ion Izagirre, Gorka Izagirre, Melhawi Kudus, Alexey Lutsenko Davide Martinelli, Yuriy Natalov , Benjamin Perry, Andrea Piccolo, Vadim Plonsky, Oscar Rodriguez, Javier Romo, Luis Leon Sanchez, Matteo Sobrero, Nikita Stalnov, Harold Tejada, Alexandr Vlasov, Artyom Zakharov

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