The Astana Pro team, which was late in paying its staff for the first two months of the year, has reportedly asked its players to take a pay cut for the next three months due to the coronavirus outbreak.

According to Spanish titles AS (opens in new tab) and Ciclo21, the Kazakhstan team will cut salaries for the entire organization by about 30%. The team has not yet officially announced the pay cut, but is expected to issue a statement later Monday.

Astana follows Lotto Soudal (open in new tab), who is also on the World Tour, and all 27 players, management, and administrative staff on the Belgian team have agreed to waive part of their salaries. The other teams are using state unemployment benefits to pay their staff's salaries.

The Lotto Soudal riders will be paid as usual once racing resumes, but Astana has announced a three-month pay cut, which may be extended.

This action follows news earlier this month that Astana athletes had not been paid for the first two months of 2020, a repeat of the situation in 2018.

At the time, team manager Alexander Vinokurov denied that the team was in serious financial trouble.

"Because we are sponsored by a public government organization (Samruk-Kazyna), the paperwork for approving funds takes time, which can delay payments," Vinokurov said earlier this month.

While not on par with last year's stormy start to the season, Astana had a strong showing before the race was interrupted by a coronavirus pandemic.

Jakob Fuglsang won two stages and the overall at Ruta del Sol, while Miguel Angel Lopez, Luis Leon Sanchez, and Alexander Vlasov won the Volta ao Algarve, Vuelta a Murcia, and Tour de la Provence, respectively. stage victories.