The WorldTour’s longest team name got a little bit more concise on Friday, with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux announcing the promotion of Circus to co-title sponsor. In 2023, the team will race as Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, the team revealed in a presentation in Charleroi.
Circus was the team’s title sponsor in 2020 before the Belgian outfit acquired the management company of the former CCC Team, Continuum Sports, and with it their WorldTour licence.
“We made a step forward this season, both on the sports side with 24 victories and a fifth place in the UCI world ranking as on our projects,” team CEO Jean-François Bourlart said in a press release.
The team will also grow its development structure, with the Ardent Group becoming the title sponsor of the under-23 team, to be known as the Ardent Group Cycling Academy and directed by Kévin Van Melsen, who raced with the team for more than a decade and retired at the end of this season.
Luis Léon Sánchez rejoins Astana
After a single season with Bahrain Victorious, Luis Leon Sanchez will return to the Astana Qazaqstan Team in 2023, the team he raced with from 2015 through 2021. The 38-year-old Spaniard inked a one-year contract.
“I am incredibly happy to return to the Astana team, in fact, to return home. I have great feelings, having signed a contract with the team again, for me it is a great joy and a huge motivation,” Sánchez said. “I want to thank Alexandr Vinokurov and the entire management for this opportunity. It happened that at the end of the last year we had to part ways, but I used this season as productively as possible, I worked hard, gained new experience, and tried to improve professionally.
“Of course, I am grateful to my current team for the great opportunity to spend the 2022 season together, but now I am looking forward to reuniting with Astana Qazaqstan Team to continue moving towards new goals together.”
Last year, Astana faced both management changes and sponsorship woes as Premier Tech broke with the team and Vinokourov was briefly ousted from the team structure. In the meantime, Sánchez had left for Bahrain Victorious. He was the team’s top Tour de France finisher in 13th after the disqualification of Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic).
“We all know Luis Leon Sanchez very well; we know his strengths and capabilities. He is a great team rider, a great assistant…
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