The jersey remains to be sky blue however virtually every little thing else is about to vary in Astana in 2025 – and it is largely thanks to an enormous funding by Chinese language bike producer XDS within the crew.
XDS is now part-owner of the crew and riders will use their X-LAB bikes as XDS goals to change into a worldwide chief within the biking trade.
The crew will formally be referred to as XDS Astana Staff as an alternative of Astana Qazaqstan, with crew supervisor Alexander Vinokourov, director sportif Mark Renshaw and several other riders travelling to Shenzhen in China for an official announcement and signing ceremony.
It seems that Mark Cavendish won’t have a job within the XDS Astana crew. Cavendish was initially concerned in planning for the crew’s future and helped carry former professionals Alex Dowsett and Pete Kennaugh to bolster the crew’s efficiency and administration employees, however he was not current on the Shenzhen launch.
Riders confirmed off the brand new jersey in China. It has some touches of colors on the shoulder however is basically sky blue and consists of some Kazakhstani sponsors. The racing equipment is made by Italian model Biemme.
“Below XDS’s funding, the Astana crew will profit from the model’s superior engineering capabilities, cutting-edge bicycle expertise, and robust monetary backing,” the crew introduced in a press launch from Shenzhen.
“This funding represents a major step for XDS because it positions itself as a key participant within the worldwide biking area, serving to propel the crew to even better success within the years forward.”
XDS has lengthy been a body producer for different worldwide manufacturers however will now start to increase globally.
“The main funding of the Astana crew is just not solely a significant step for XDS on the planet {of professional} biking but in addition an integral a part of the corporate’s broader technique to increase into worldwide markets. XDS has lengthy been a frontrunner in China’s bicycle market, and now, with the XDS Astana Staff, the corporate is able to take its subsequent massive leap,” the crew stated.
“The partnership with the XDS Astana Staff is a strong assertion of XDS’s ambition to change into a worldwide chief within the biking trade.”
XDS Astana face a battle to remain within the WorldTour past 2025 and the UCI deemed their registration for subsequent season conditional on the submission of further paperwork by 15 January. The announcement in Shenzhen may nicely point out these points will quickly be resolved.
The crew has invested massively in strengthening its roster to attain very important rating factors in 2025. Italian nationwide champion Alberto Bettiol joined mid-season and 13 different riders are new for 2025. Alexey Lutsenko has moved to Israel-Premier Tech however new riders embody Wout Poels, Diego Ulissi, Mike Teunissen, Sergio Higuita, Clément Champoussin, Diego Ulissi, Fausto Masnada and Kiwi sprinter Aaron Gate. Quite a lot of Kazakhstani riders have left the crew, whereas Michael Mørkøv and Cavendish have retired.
Britain’s Pete Kennaugh and Alex Dowsett have joined the crew‘s employees to assist drive the change. Dowsett is the crew’s efficiency engineer, whereas Kennaugh is a directeur sportif. Veteran Italian directeur sportif Beppe Martinelli has retired, whereas Belgian Lorenzo Lapage and just lately retired Lidl-Trek rider Dario Cataldo additionally take up roles as directeur sportif.
XDS Astana have additionally invested of their Efficiency Group, with Helmut Dollinger, Manuel Crespo, and Morgan Saussine becoming a member of the crew alongside Dowsett. Vasilis Anastopoulos, who helped Mark Cavendish return to kind in recent times, stays because the crew’s Head of Efficiency, with Maurizio Mazzoleni the crew’s Sports activities Supervisor.
