Astana Kazakstan, which announced the signing of Mark Cavendish on Tuesday, announced that Sees Boll will join the team for the 2023 season.

Like Cavendish, the Dutchman had agreed to join the B&B Hotels team before its collapse, and had been rumored to join Astana since December.

The former Team DSM rider visited the team at the end of December training camp with Cavendish and reportedly visited Spain again earlier this week to attend the January camp. A one-year contract with Cavendish was announced Wednesday.

Astana had to drop Artyom Zakharov (of Kazakhstan) in order to fit into the maximum 30-rider squad set by the UCI (International Cycling Union).

"It feels great to be here on the Astana Kazakhstan team. It is a big surprise for me to end the New Year in this way," Boll said.

"I am very happy to be part of this great team. My main goals for this season are to get back to winning, to get a chance to sprint, and to fight for the win in every race.

"But of course, with Mark Cavendish joining the team, my main goal is to help him succeed. I want to run the classics to see how far I can go with the team. So I'm really looking forward to 2023."

The 27-year-old Boll enjoyed a U23 campaign with SEG Racing, run by rider-agent Martin Berkhout, whom Cavendish acquired in early 2022 after a junior stint at Rabobank. When talks of a move to B&B Hotels between the two fell through, a package deal with Astana was agreed upon.

Boll has won six races in his four professional seasons to date, including a stage win in Paris-Nice in 2021. He was also the lead sprinter for DSM in the 2020 and 2021 Tour de France, but only finished on the podium. He also has experience in the spring classics.

"Cees Bol is a powerful sprinter, and I hope he will first help in the bunch sprints next to Mark Cavendish," said Astana boss Alexandre Vinokurov.

"But we know that Cies is a strong rider and that he alone can achieve good results. So our sprinters group is strengthened and visible again."

The last-minute acquisitions of Cavendish and Bol brought Astana's total number of players to 31. Hours before signing Bol, the departure of Artyom Zakharov was announced.

Zakharov, 31, has already been light on the road racing program for the past two years and has his sights set on track and the 2024 Olympics. He will fall to Astana's development team, but has a chance to represent the World Tour team.

"This year is very important for me because I have to participate in qualifying events to get the points I need to qualify for the Paris Olympics," Zakharov said.

Zakharov added, "In preparation for the track events, I also need a base on the road, and our development team has provided a calendar that is simpler than the World Tour calendar, which frequently overlaps the track events, especially the World Cup, and at the same time is of high quality and convenient.

"Therefore, in agreement with the management of the Astana Kazakhstan team, I have decided to spend 2023 with our development team and accordingly the Kazakhstan National Track Team."