Following the news that Mark Cavendish had postponed his retirement due to a race with Astana・Kazakhstan in 2024, the Kazakh team announced the signing of Michael Morkov.

Dane's move to Astana has been rumoured for weeks as the team seeks to build a sprint train to deliver Cavendish to his record 35th stage win at the Tour de France next summer.

Astana also confirmed the signing of coach Vasilisanastopoulos. The former Greek professional worked with both Cavendish and Morkov in the Belgian team and played a key role in helping Cavendish make a successful comeback in 2021.

The confirmation of Mørkøv's signature ends a 38-year spell at Soudal-QuickStep, with the Belgian team set to be absorbed by Jumbo-Visma in a huge merger. Sprinter Fabio Jakopsen has also left Soudal-QuickStep for team dsm-firmenich.

Mørkøv will be another key man for Cavendish, with Italian classic man/sprinter Davide Ballerini joining in the transition from QuickStep to Astana and German lead-out Max Kanter joining from Movistar.

Mørkøv reunites with Cavendish, who he led so well when Manxman returned to his best and won the 2021 Tour de France 4 stages.

"I'm really excited to join the Astana・Kazakhstan team in 2024. It will be.It's a team with great development and I'm honored to be there at the right moment," said Mørkøv.

"And of course I can reunite with my former teammate Mark Cavendish to chase a new victory not only for him but also for Astana,"

"Besides, next year is the Olympic year and I have a great opportunity to fight again for the gold medal at Madison." We have great ambitions. The team is ready to offer me good support to chase this dream and I'm really grateful for it.

"In general, I am happy and ready to offer all my experience in cycling to help the team achieve their biggest goals throughout the next season.

Mørkøv has helped the likes of Cavendish, Fabio Jakobsen, Sam Bennett, Elia Viviani, Fernando Gaviria and Tim Merlier win countless victories in QuickStep, establishing himself as peloton's top lead-out man over the years.

Astana General Manager Alexander Vinokourov praised Mørkøv's extensive experience and called him "what our team needs."

"Michael is a true professional and we know him as one of the best lead-out riders in the modern Peloton," Vinokourov said.1 "His experience and his racing vision are invaluable and this kind of rider is exactly what our team needs to build a sprint group.

"I hope Michael will be one of the keys to creating a strong group that can chase something important next season 1.

Anastopoulos will join Astana as the team's new performance head.

Vinokourov said he looks forward to Anastopoulos working with the team's sprint lineup.

"The experience and knowledge that Vasilis has will help improve the team's overall race preparation and significantly improve performance," Vinokourov said. "At the same time, we also aim to develop Sprint, I believe Vasilis is the right person for it.

"He is a big pro and has the vision that Vasilis has for the key points we have to work on, I believe that in the next season we can improve a lot – with the arrival of Mark Cavendish and Saze Bor this season. He works with riders like Alexey Lutsenko both in the direction he chose at the beginning of the race, and in the direction of stage racing and climbing.

"Together, the young Kazakh coach will have the opportunity to learn from this valuable experience in his work. We are ready to work hard, so we look forward to seeing Vasilis in the team in 2024.

Mørkøv joined Kanter and Ballerini as new additions to Astana, which was overhauled in 2024.

Climber Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo Cometa) is another important addition, and the team will have Henok Mulbran (Green Project Baldiani CSF-Faizane), Ide Schelling (Bora Hansgrohe) and Anson Schelling (Bora Hansgrohe) for the next season. He has signed with Uno-X, Harold Martin López and Nicholas Vinokurov (both from the Astana-Kazakstan Development team).