The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) will ask its licence commission to revoke the licence of Astana following an independent audit, they said yesterday.

The news, announced by cycling’s world governing body, puts Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali in limbo.

The audit was ordered by the UCI after a number of anti-doping infringements by Astana and its feeder team.

A statement from the UCI read: “The Union Cycliste Internationale today confirms that it has now reviewed the audit produced by the Institute of Sport Sciences of the University of Lausanne (ISSUL) on Astana Pro Team and its anti-doping culture, policies, structures and management systems.

“The audit was one of the conditions attached to the registration of the team in the 2015 UCI World Tour.

“After careful review of this extensive report, the UCI strongly believes that it contains compelling grounds to refer the matter to the Licence Commission and request the Astana Pro Team licence be withdrawn.”

The UCI said the reality of the team’s policies and structures differs markedly from what Astana told the licence commission during a review last December.

Evidence in an anti-doping investigation in Italy also implicates members of the Astana team, the UCI said.

The statement added: “The UCI considers that the ISSUL audit has, among other things, revealed a big difference between the policies and structures that the team presented to the Licence Commission in December and the reality on the ground.

“In addition, the Italian authorities have provided the UCI with the sections of the Padova investigation which it has been authorised to share. As some evidence concerns Astana Pro Team members, the file has been passed to the Licence Commission as part of this referral.

“For the sake of due process, the UCI is not in a position to comment further on the content of the audit report.”