XDS Astana Team entered the 2025 season with a major UCI point deficit and an almost certain chance of meeting relegation at the end of the year. It now feels distant, but team manager Alexandr Vinokourov has brought up the team’s achievement, closing the gap and overtaking several teams in its way to secure the license for three more years at the top of the sport.”The 2025 season was really special for us, as it marked the 20th anniversary of the Astana project, which was founded in 2006,” Vinokourov said in an interview with bicipro. “We started the year as outsiders: we were out of the WorldTour license zone. To secure a place in the top division for the next three years, we had to perform something like a miracle and, honestly, not many believed we would make it.”
But the team, with careful schedule planning for its whole team and riders individually, put on a stellar run to gather tons of UCI points. Several World Tour teams, even those in difficulty, did not, and ultimately were overtaken. Even with the disappearance of Intermarché – Wanty for example, Cofidis still found itself getting relegated after three ProTeams had more points than it, and Uno-X Mobility took the last World Tour position by only a few hundred points.
Astana reached the end of the year relaxed as in the first half they did what they had to do. “We set ourselves the goals, we calculated the races. The goal was, of course, to earn points. Sometimes even more than chasing victories. We knew we needed points, and we fought for every single point. Probably above all, Christian Scaroni, who surprised us and made a big leap forward. He began to believe in himself”.
Astana stronger than teams with double the budgetAt the end of the year the team finished well within the red line and secured its World Tour license, finishing the season as the fourth top scoring team and having also the fifth best record in terms of pure wins. “Of course, we want victories. This year, despite everything, we have obtained 32. I think it’s a very respectable result, especially compared to past years.”
Astana simply got the job done and ended the year with – when taking into consideration these terms – better outcomes than teams such as Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe and INEOS Grenadiers. In 2026 we could see similar if the team decides to continue having such carefully planned schedules. “We beat big teams with budgets twice as big as ours. We have shown that we can do it. And now we know what we can do. I am proud of all of them.”
Diego Ulissi and Astana leading the Giro d’Italia. @Sirotti