With Chinese carbon product manufacturer XDS Carbon-Tech on board as a sponsor for 2025, Astana Qazaqstan will have new bikes, several new riders and a new name for the coming season - XdS (Carbon-Tech) - Astana Qazaqstan, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports.
It's the first time since the team's founding in 2007 that Astana, the team's state-funded sponsor, won't be the first name on their official title. The Shenzen-based company has become a major investor in the team and is looking to make "significant changes".
The partnership was confirmed back in July at the Tour de France, after Cyclingnews broke news of the investment the week prior, with the new sponsorship arriving just in time for Astana to fight for their WorldTour spot in 2025.
As it stands, they are one of the two teams headed for relegation having ended the season on 13,608 points for 2023-2024, almost 5000 UCI points away from Cofidis who are ranked 18th - the final position which will be granted a WT licence in 2026 at the start of the next cycle.
Mark Cavendish has officially retired after achieving the record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage win with Astana, however, their new budget has allowed them to bring in the services of 12 new riders for 2025.
Diego Ulissi, Wout Poels, Mike Teunissen and Sergio Higuita are expected to be the biggest new points scorers. They also signed Alberto Bettiol late in the 2024 season and the Italian will be a headline feature in their Classics squad.
It's not only new riders but staff too, with former British pro Alex Dowsett joining as a performance engineer and Helmut Dollinger, Manuel Crespo, and Morgan Saussine also coming on board to bolster the coaching and data science staff.
Alexandr Vinokurov's team is also likely to race on a Chinese licence next year, with their new title sponsor also providing the equipment after Astana parted ways with bike sponsor Wilier. Their new bikes are expected to come from XDS Carbon-Tech's own bike brand and be the X-Lab AD9 aero bike and lightweight RS9.
"We have been diligently searching for an investor capable of taking the team to a new level of development. We understand that the team and the entire project as a whole will face some significant changes, but we are ready for this," said Vinokurov when Astana announced the partnership.
"For the following seasons, XDS will be the strongest backup for the team. We will make sure the team has very enough budget and the best technical support," said Yancong Tan, CEO of XDS.
