After UCI president David Lapartient warned that the team would cease to exist due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Astana manager Alexandre Vinokurov said he thinks the team will disband if it cannot race again this year.

The Kazakh team has already imposed pay cuts on its riders and staff, including Jakub Fuglsang and Miguel Angel Lopez, who will lose 30% of their salaries until the race resumes.

Following the demise of the Liberty Seguros team, the majority of funding for the WorldTour team, which was established in 2007, has come from Samruk Kazyna, a government fund that controls many of Kazakhstan's state-owned companies.

"We did everything we could with the team and sponsors. In Kazakhstan, as all over the world, things are complicated, like oil and currency," Vinokurov told the French website Cyclism'Actu (opens in new tab).

"We have to survive this year and if there is no race it will be complicated for cycling. Without the race, my team will be at risk. Sponsors want visibility, and for us they do. If there is no race, I think my team will cease to exist next year."

Thus, Vinokourov is greatly encouraged by the new 2020 calendar released by the UCI last week.

The Tour de France will run from August 29 to September 20, overlapping the Giro d'Italia in October and the 18-stage Vuelta a España in November. The World Championships follow the Tour, and the spring classics are held primarily in October.

"We needed a calendar, and the UCI president and the team around him did a great job," Vinokurov said. [With all the big events like the Olympics and the European Championships cancelled, it is important for our sport to race this year in order to survive.

"It is strange that the Tour de France is held in September and the other races are held later, but it is good for the fans because they can watch the cycling on TV.

Astana has not finalized its plans for the newly designed season, but Vinokourov said that even if Lopez takes the Tour de France and Fuglsang the Giro, and even if the Danes miss Liege-Bastogne-Liege, which they won last year, the original script Fuglsang has shown that he will not deviate too much from his original script, even if the Dane misses the Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which he won last year.

"The Tour will be difficult with all the big riders. Lopez will go to learn, but I want to see his limits, how far he can go," Vinclov said.

"The Giro is more accessible. (Vincenzo) Nibali will be there, but Fuglsang is also surrounded by a good team and has a chance to win."