Kasechkin, Andrei Grigorievich

In 2000, Kashechkin achieved a number of successes in international youth competitions on the highway. During the next season, he signed his first professional contract. At the beginning of his career, Andrei also performed on the track , on his account the bronze medals of the 2002 Asian Games in team pursuit. In the same season, he first started in Vuelta Spain . In the spring of 2003, his close friend, Andrei Kivilev , died; Kashechkin supported his family ^[3] . In 2004, Kasechkin won the overall standings of Zahzen Tour , as well as in the semiclassics of the Furmi Grand Prix . In the summer, he lost only to Andrey Mizurov in the group race of the championship of Kazakhstan and participated in the Athens Olympics . The following season, Kashechkin made his successful debut at the Tour de France , losing only to Yaroslav Popovich in the youth standings.

2006 was the peak of Kasechkin’s career. In the spring he won the Paris - Nice stage, in the summer he won the group race of the Kazakhstan championship, ahead of Alexander Vinokurov. In September, Andrei was Vinokurov's chief assistant on the Vuelta of Spain in the Astana Team . Tom managed to win the overall standings of the race, and Kasechkin closed the top three winners and won at the 18th stage. Before the 15th stage, both Kazakhstanis evaded doping tests ^[4] . The following summer, they were nevertheless caught in blood transfusion : Vinokurov failed the test on the day of the victorious 15th stage, and his team was expelled from the race; Kasechkin was 8th overall, he did not pass an unscheduled test a week after that ^[5] . Andrei was disqualified for 2 years, during which he unsuccessfully tried to prove his innocence ^[6] .

During the disqualification, Kasechkin's relationship with Vinokurov deteriorated. This had negative consequences for him, since Alexander, the leader of national cycling, enjoyed authority among the leadership of the Astana team. After the expiration of the period of ineligibility, Kasechkin did not wait for an invitation from Astana, and experienced opposition from his compatriots at the World Cup ^{[7] [8]} . Only in the summer of 2010, Andrey managed to sign a contract with Lampre-Farnese Vini . A year later, Vinokurov was injured at the Tour de France 2011 and announced his retirement. At this moment, Kasechkin terminated the contract with Lampre-Farnese Vini and moved to Astana, taking the vacant seat ^[9] . In the fall, Vinokurov changed his mind, and Roman Kireev had to make way, announcing the termination of his career ^[10] . After returning to the race, Kasechkin regularly participates in super-day events , but no longer achieved any significant success. Vinokurov ended his career again after the 2012 season, announcing a desire to lead Astana. Kasechkin criticized this decision ^[11] , he also opposed the return of Vinokurov in the fall of 2011 ^[12] . In the offseason, the team excluded Andrei from applications for future races, as he refused to sign an internal document ^[13] .

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