
As Cyclingnews reported in the first week of the Tour de France, Chinese carbon product manufacturer XDS Carbon-Tech will invest in the Astana Qazaqstan team, sparking the arrival of a major Chinese sponsor in the men’s WorldTour and “significant changes’ in the team.
Alexander Vinokourov will continue to play an important part in the team management but the new team is likely to be registered as a Chinese WorldTour team in 2025. The significant new investment will be used to hire several big-name riders to target enough UCI ranking points to ensure the team retains WorldTour status in 2026 when the UCI awards new three-year World Tour licences.