2025 season review: XDS Astana Team

XDS Astana Team’s 2025 season marked a clear and badly needed reset after a year spent looking over their shoulder. Entering the campaign, the Kazakhstan-registered WorldTour team faced a genuine fight for survival at the top level, having slipped dangerously close to relegation in 2024. Under the long-standing leadership of Alexander Vinokourov, and in the first year since the retirement of Mark Cavendish, the objective was straightforward but unforgiving: score points, win races where possible, and secure their WorldTour licence. By the end of the year, they had done considerably more than that.

What followed was a season built on a willingness to hunt victories wherever they could realistically be found. No, XDS Astana Team did not suddenly transform into a Grand Tour-dominating superteam, nor did they conquer the Monuments. Instead, they assembled a consistent, productive year across smaller stage races, one-day events, and targeted Grand Tour opportunities. The result was a decisive rebound that lifted them to 15th in the final WorldTour rankings and restored a sense of direction to a team that had looked adrift twelve months earlier.

The 2025 roster reflected Astana’s reality. This was not a team stacked with generational stars, but one built around experience and riders capable of winning across a wide range of race profiles. Veterans like Wout Poels and Diego Ulissi brought depth and leadership, while Sergio Higuita and Harold Tejada offered credible options for week-long races and Grand Tours. On the flatter terrain, Davide Ballerini, Max Kanter, and Simone Velasco gave the team sprint and punch, while cobbled specialists such as Alberto Bettiol and Mike Teunissen added durability for the northern races.

The biggest returns, however, came from riders who stepped up beyond expectations. Christian Scaroni and Harold Martín López emerged as the team’s most prolific winners, each finishing the season with four victories. López, in particular, became a reliable source of general classification success at smaller stage races, while Scaroni’s aggressive style and consistency across Italian races made him the standout figure of Astana’s year. Alongside them, national pride remained important, with Yevgeniy Fedorov securing Kazakhstan’s road race and time trial titles.

This blend of seasoned professionals and upwardly mobile riders defined Astana’s approach throughout the season. They rarely waited for races to come to them, instead choosing to infiltrate breakaways, and target stages and classifications that were realistically within reach.

And in short, it worked.

Measured purely by numbers, the turnaround was striking. XDS Astana Team finished the 2025 season with 32 professional victories, including a Grand Tour stage win and multiple overall wins at smaller stage races. Those results translated into 15th place in the WorldTour team standings. Just one year earlier, they had finished 21st and were staring at the relegation trapdoor.

Their final position placed them narrowly behind Movistar and comfortably ahead of Jayco AlUla and Picnic PostNL, a margin that mattered enormously given the licensing pressure. More importantly, it reflected a team that had found a sustainable way to compete: not by chasing unrealistic targets, but by extracting maximum value from a packed racing calendar.

Astana’s spring began with promise. Christian Scaroni set the tone early by winning Classic Var in February, followed immediately by overall victory at the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes. Those back-to-back successes signalled that the team had arrived in form and with intent, particularly in the French and Italian one-day scene.

When the calendar turned to the Monuments, however, the limits of the squad became clear. Milan–San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris–Roubaix all delivered respectable but unspectacular results. Mike Teunissen’s 11th place at San Remo and Davide Ballerini’s 10th at Flanders showed that Astana could compete for top-10s, while Teunissen’s 16th at Roubaix underlined their resilience on the cobbles. But they were never genuine contenders for victory.

The Ardennes brought mixed fortunes. Scaroni failed to make an impact at Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne, but Liège–Bastogne–Liège offered a moment to remember. Simone Velasco sprinted to fourth place, narrowly missing the podium and delivering Astana’s strongest Monument result of the season. While it fell short of a headline win, it was a reminder that the team could still influence the biggest races on the calendar.

Beyond the Monuments, Astana continued to pick off smaller successes. Max Kanter’s victory at the Famenne Ardenne Classic added to the tally, reinforcing the team’s strategy of targeting achievable wins rather than burning resources in unwinnable situations. Overall, the spring highlighted Astana’s depth and competitiveness, even if true Classic stardom remained elusive.

The Giro d’Italia represented the emotional and competitive high point of Astana’s year. Diego Ulissi briefly wearing the maglia rosa was a symbolic moment, especially for a rider who has spent much of his career in Italian races. But the defining moment came on Stage 16, deep in the mountains.

Christian Scaroni and Lorenzo Fortunato executed a perfectly timed move to finish first and second on the stage, with Scaroni taking his first Grand Tour victory. The image of the pair crossing the line together encapsulated everything Astana needed from the Giro: unity and reward.

Beyond that stage, Astana rode actively throughout the race, consistently placing riders in breakaways and animating difficult stages. Ulissi remained present until the final week and finished 21st overall, while the team’s cohesion and morale visibly improved as the race progressed. In many ways, the Giro felt like the moment Astana’s season truly turned from survival to success.

The Tour de France was always likely to be more subdued. Sergio Higuita was entrusted with GC leadership, and his task was clear: deliver a respectable overall result. He did exactly that, finishing 14th in Paris after three steady weeks of racing.

Astana did not win a stage at the Tour, nor did they contest the classification jerseys, but the absence of spectacular results did not equate to failure. In the context of their season, Higuita’s consistency provided valuable points and demonstrated that the team could still operate effectively at cycling’s biggest event. The sprint and breakaway options did not convert into victories, but they also did not derail the broader objective of consolidation.

The Vuelta a España followed a similar pattern. Harold Tejada led the team and produced a composed, reliable ride to finish 12th overall. Again, there were no stage wins, but Tejada frequently placed inside the top ten on mountain stages and steadily climbed the general classification. Astana’s approach at the Vuelta was conservative, prioritising GC points over opportunistic stage hunting. While that limited their chances of standout moments, it paid off in terms of overall return. For a team whose licence security still depended on margins, this restraint made sense.

Across the three Grand Tours, Astana’s record read as follows: one stage win at the Giro, no wins at the Tour or Vuelta, but solid GC finishes at all three. It was not spectacular, but it was effective. And it was exactly what they needed.

Looking ahead, Astana have opted for continuity rather than overhaul. Incoming riders include Arjen Livyns, Cristian Rodríguez Martín, Marco Schrettl, and Guillermo Thomas Silva, alongside promotions from the development team. These signings are clearly aimed at reinforcing depth rather than redefining leadership. Departures include Cees Bol, and the most notable exit is Wout Poels, who will ride his likely final season at Unibet Tietema Rockets.

XDS Astana’s 2025 season deserves to be judged on its own terms. After flirting with relegation, they stabilised, climbed the rankings, and delivered 32 victories across a wide range of races. The Giro stage win, the maglia rosa moment, and their success at smaller stage races defined a year that far exceeded expectations.

They did not conquer the Monuments or challenge for Grand Tour podiums, but that was never the benchmark. Instead, they rebuilt credibility, restored confidence, and laid a foundation for the future. On balance, this was an impressive comeback campaign and comfortably rates an 8/10, a season that secured their place in the WorldTour and proved that Astana remain a relevant, competitive force in professional cycling.