Contador set to stay after Astana get registration
Madrid: Tour de France champion Alberto Contador is set to remain with his Astana squad in 2010 after International Cycling Union (UCI) announced the team's official registration for next season had been approved.
The registration enables Astana to remain part of the top ProTour league and removes one of the last major obstacles to Contador remaining with the Kazakh-funded squad.
The UCI released on Wednesday a list of 17 teams, including Astana, that had completed the registration procedure.
In a news release, the UCI said they had asked for an extra bank guarantee from the team after Astana had problems with rider payments this year.
"The UCI requested the Kazakh team to provide an additional bank guarantee so that the regrettable situation in 2009 would not be repeated and so that the request for the withdrawal of the Astana licence would not have to be reactivated," the statement said.
"The UCI awaits this bank guarantee and is confident it will be provided soon."
Astana had missed an earlier deadline for registration in October and Spaniard Contador threatened to quit the team if the new target date was not met.
Despite winning the Tour de France for the second time, Contador had a turbulent 2009 marked by delayed wages and a stormy relationship with team mate and seven-times Tour champion Lance Armstrong.
Armstrong announced in July he was leaving Astana to set up his own team.
Bureau Report