The Astana Pro Team has announced that it is preparing to return to racing for the resumption of the season in August.

The team's six Spanish riders and four Colombian riders will gather in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountains, and the team has confirmed that charter flights will be available for the Colombian riders.

With the Colombian government banning international travel until August 31, it had been questionable whether the riders from that country would be able to arrive in Europe for the resumption of the season.

The remaining teams that do not have to overcome such a strict travel ban, such as COVID-19, will attend a training camp in the Italian Dolomites.

"Fortunately, everything will gradually return to normal," said team general manager Alexander Vinokurov. We understand that we will have to live with certain restrictions for a while, but if these trends continue, we are confident that the calendar revision planned by the UCI will materialize."

"All riders are already training on the road in '100% mode' and the riders are ready for the season to resume. If all goes well, two training camps will be held in July. One will be in Spain and the other in Italy. We are looking forward to some really good training in the middle and second half of July in order to get off to a great start in the first race."

With the team split, Tour de France leaders Miguel Angel Lopez and the Izaguirre brothers will train in Spain, while Jacob Fuglsang and Alexey Lutsenko, who enjoyed the best campaign of their careers last year, will converge on Italy.

According to team sports manager Dmitry Fofonov, the plan was created to minimize rider travel and to follow the riders' training plans. The team will return to racing at the Vuelta a Burgos, July 28-August 1, followed by the Italian Classics (Strade Bianche, Milan-Torino, Milan-San Remo) and the Tour de Pollogne.

"At the moment we have a very good calendar," Fofonov said. We are working closely with the organizers and have already confirmed our participation in most of the races."

"Only Artyom Zakharov and Dmitry Gruzdev are still in Kazakhstan, actively training, but will fly to Europe as soon as possible. As for the Colombian players, it has been confirmed that a charter flight will be arranged in July."

The team also confirmed Grand Tour plans for several star riders, including Lopez making his Tour de France debut. Fuglsang will lead Astana in the Giro d'Italia. The latter duo will resume their season with Strade Bianche, which finished second and seventh in 2019.

"After waiting at home for so long and training on the roller table, I'm finally able to get out and train normally and do my job 100%," Lopez said. We are all hoping that the race will start as planned. That's important for us, for the team, and for our sponsors."

"So now I'm working hard to come back in good shape and I'm really looking forward to being back in Europe and seeing my teammates at the training camp before the season starts. I am really motivated and excited to make my debut at the Tour de France. It will be a big step for my career."