"He reminds of Valverde in his early days": Astana DS showers Christian Scaroni with praise

XDS Astana had just made an impossible recovery in 2025 to successfully defend their position in WorldTour. Many would think the Kazakh team backed by Chinese bike manufacturer would now take foot off the gas for a moment to savour the success, but that's not the case. Instead, the team managed by legendary Kazakh cyclist Alexander Vinokourov even leapfrogged to briefly lead the UCI ranking after their raid at the Asian Continental Championships where Yevgeniy Fedorov took both titles, and thanks to Christian Scaroni's overall victory at the Tour of Oman.

It's in particular thanks to the 28-year-old Italian that Astana survived the elimination process last year as Scaroni "out of nowhere" to score 2400 UCI points in 2025 (4x the amount he scored years prior). Only the sweet reward of a European Championship medal (where Scaroni finished 4th) is missing in his palmares.

"He didn’t come out of nowhere," his sporting director Dmitriy Fofonov counters the previous remark in quotes collected by L'Équipe. "Dmitri Seidun, his manager at Gazprom (where Scaroni raced before joining Astana in 2022), was already telling me at the time that one of his riders had great test performances. That was Scaroni. But to go from tests to reality, you need time, you need to gain experience."

It's true that during his time at Gazprom, Scaroni showed only a few glimpses of the growth that was yet to come. But Astana trusted their scouting and their pay out came last year.

Scaroni goes as a great example that team managers and scouts shouldn't always judge a rider's potential based on their quality in their teens. The Italian clearly never lacked in terms of potential, but the path to becoming a world-class rider was still longer than for some other riders who are burnt out at the age of 25. And we're yet to see the best of Scaroni, Astana staff keeps reassuring.

"Today, we believe that champions are already champions at 19, 20, or 21 years old," emphasizes his coach at the time, Nicolas Boisson. "There are always some who reach maturity later. He progresses little by little. And now, he is truly establishing himself as a top rider."

"I think he’s coming into his prime," Fofonov continued, noting that Scaroni has a similar profile to Astana's former racer Alexey Lutsenko, who also had "his limitations in the mountains", yet he overcame them to arrive 7th overall at the 2021 Tour de France, for example.

"I have the impression of seeing the Valverde of his early days," added sports director Yvon Ledanois. "He's a rider who truly has great confidence in his abilities. I think he still has a lot of room for growth. I think he'll become a great rider."

Of course that comparison from Ledanois, a former professional with Arkéa - B&B Hotels, seems to be a bit of a stretch. After all, the mythical Spaniard whose active career spanned two decades was a star from the first moment. But there are definitely similarities between the two riders' profiles and maybe Scaroni could one day fight for a victory in one of the Ardenne Classics as well...