The former Astana rider, who tested positive for blood doping in an out-of-competition test in 2007, has not raced since his suspension ended on 7 August this year, but has been named in Kazakhstan’s world championship team and will – according to a team source – ride the time trial, though not Sunday’s road race.
It is understood that Kashechkin’s inclusion in the team has the support of the Kazakhstan Cycling Federation, which suggests that he, like Alexander Vinokourov, could be in line for a return to the Astana team.
The national federation has a major stake in the professional team, though the Astana spokesman, Philippe Maertens, said on Wednesday that there has so far been no contact between 29-year-old Kashechkin and the squad, whose future as a ProTour squad has yet to be decided by the UCI.
In August the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Kashechkin’s appeal against the two-year ban imposed by his national federation. It followed positive tests on the A and B-samples of an out-of-competition test conducted by the UCI on 1 August 2007, while the Kazakh rider was on holiday in Turkey.
A few weeks earlier, Kashechkin had been a member of the Astana team that withdrew en masse from the 2007 Tour after its leader, Vinokourov, tested positive for the same method of doping, by illegal blood transfusion.
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Richard Moore is a freelance journalist and author. His first book, In Search of Robert Millar (HarperSport), won Best Biography at the 2008 British Sports Book Awards. His second book, Heroes, Villains & Velodromes (HarperSport), was long-listed for the 2008 William Hill Sports Book of the Year.
He writes on sport, specialising in cycling, and is a regular contributor to Cyclingnews, the Guardian, skyports.com, the Scotsman and Procycling magazine.
He is also a former racing cyclist who represented Scotland at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and Great Britain at the 1998 Tour de Langkawi
His next book, Slaying the Badger: LeMond, Hinault and the Greatest Ever Tour de France, will be published by Yellow Jersey in May 2011.
Another book, Sky’s the Limit: British Cycling’s Quest to Conquer the Tour de France, will also be published by HarperSport in June 2011.
