Luis Leon Sanchez, after a tumultuous 2013 season with doubts resurfaced about his possible links with the doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, is living a second life with Astana Pro Cycling. The Spanish rider thanked the Kazakh team to give him a chance to ride again in the professionnel bunch.

“I am happy, above all to return to the WorldTour, and I am thankful for the team, and how they’ve been treating me so far,” Sánchez said according to Velonews. “I want to ride well, enjoy the bike, and do as well as I can for this team.”

Sanchez ride now the Tour Down Under where he has the Astana leadership. “It’s good to be racing again,” Sánchez said. “It’s the first stage of the year, and no one knows how the body is going to respond, especially here in Australia, with the heat… It’s hard to say how the legs will respond, but I am hoping to have a good race as the week unfolds.”