The president of the MPCC, Roger Legeay, has said that it is unfair to call the Astana WorldTour and Continetal team the same entity.

Speaking to CyclingTips, Legeay said that it was important to treat the positive tests by Astana WorldTour riders Maxim and Valentin Iglinskiy as separate to the three relating to the Astana Continental team, namely those of Ilya Davidenok, Victor Okishev and Artur Fedosseyev.

“The UCI recognises four Astana teams,” Legeay said. “There is the WorldTour team, there is the Astana Continental team, there is the Vino4Ever team and there is also the Astana women’s team.”

“For the UCI it is four teams. It’s the same for the MPCC also, because when teams want to ask to come to the MPCC, they are regarded as separate for us too.”

“The situation is that the rider is from the Continental team,” he said. “I think that two riders were positive when they were with the national team [rather than racing for an Astana squad]. But for us, all the stagiaires in 2014 are considered in their Continental teams.”

“That is the situation when you see the UCI’s rules. The UCI accepts all the riders in a Continental team for the year 2014 [even if they become stagiaires – ed.].”

Astana are currently having their WorldTour licence reviewed by the UCI licensing commission and Legeay thinks that should they be denied their spot in cycling’s top tier, it would be harsh.

“Maybe we can change in the future; if the UCI’s cycling reform says that it is necessary for all the WorldTour teams to have a young team, then that is different. But not now – the two Astanas are very different because it is not the same riders, it is not in the same races, it is not the same calendar, it is not the same budget.”

However, as La Gazzetta dello Sport said recently, Vinokourov had the power to suspend the smaller team, implying some element of control over it. In addition to that, the Continental team’s manager Dmitri Sedoun is also a directeur sportif of the WorldTour team. There are definetly similarities between the two teams as well.

As a consequence of the two Iglinskiy positives, Astana had to miss the Tour of Beijing to meet the MPCC’s rules, which Legeay explained in his interview with CyclingTips.

“The rules are very strict,” he said. “The first Astana positive in 2014 was the first of August 2014. In our rules, if they have a third rider positive before the 31st of July 2016, they stop for one month. That is a very, very strong pressure on the team and the riders not to make mistakes.”

“If the date is before a Grand Tour, they don’t ride that Tour. If the third positive arrives just one week before the Vuelta, they don’t ride the Vuelta. If it arrives one week before the Tour de France, they don’t ride the Tour.”

While Legeay seems to be letting Astana off for now, the team is certainly walking a tight line and the Continetal team’s four positive in two years once you take into account that in August of last year Vladislav Gorbunov finished eighth on stage four of the Volta a Portugal and subsequently tested positive for Methylhexaneamine. That is four positives and Astana can count themselves luck that both their WorldTour and Continental teams have not been given the boot by the MPCC.