y Seguros from the 2006 Tour de France. Vinokourov then helped form a new team, Astana, named for the capital of Kazakhstan and funded by a conglomeration of Kazakhstan businesses, which adopted the color of the Kazakh flag for its uniforms. That same year, Vinokourov and Kashechkin took first and third places in general classification in the 2006 Vuelta a España in Spain. In July 2007, Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping during the 2007 Tour de France and was disqualified from the race, although he was in the lead at the time. He was only banned for a year by the Kazakhstan cycling federation, but his suspension was increased to the internationally mandated two years by the UCI (International Cycling Federation). In addition, Kashechkin was also found guilty of blood doping and was also suspended for two years, and Astana was subsequently banned from the 2008 Tour de France. At that time, Vinokourov announced his retirement. The Astana Cycling team proceeded under new management and continued to include Kazakhstan riders in the Grand Tours of cycling, although race leadership of the team passed to the Spaniard Alberto Contador and the Americans Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer. However, in September 2008, Vinokourov announced his intention to unretire and to return to cycling in 2009, and he returned in August 2009. In 2010, Vinokourov rejoined Astana.
*Boxing – Since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan's boxers have won many medals. Due to that, Kazakhstan quickly went up in all-time medal table of Olympic Games in boxing, where the country jumped from the lowest starting rank to current 11th rank among all other countries. As of now, two Kazakh boxers (Bakhtiyar Artayev, Vassiliy Jirov) have earned Val Barker Trophy, making Kazakhstan second from the top falling only 3 medals behind from USA. World IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko was born in Kazakhstan in 1976.
