“I can’t tell you, otherwise we give away the secret” – XDS Astana resurgence continues into 2026 as Matteo Malucelli refuses to divulge any secrets to success

XDS Astana Team’s 2025 reset was built on survival, not slogans. Under relegation pressure in the final year of the UCI three-year cycle, the team leaned into results wherever they could find them and trusted riders to rethink how they raced. Early 2026 suggests that approach has not only stuck, but sharpened.

Matteo Malucelli has become the latest proof point, delivering a statement sprint at the AlUla Tour while refusing to explain exactly what has changed.

Speaking in conversation with Bici.Pro, Malucelli was explicit about what he will not reveal. “I came up with a solution that I can’t tell you, otherwise we give away the secret,” he said, after outlining months of winter thinking that followed an already productive tweak to his position last autumn. Eight sprint wins last season were no longer enough. The benchmark had moved to Europe, and Malucelli knew it.

That honesty is central to why his early-season impact matters. Malucelli has never hidden the gap he felt. “I can win races in Asia. But compared to the riders who win in Europe, I’m missing something,” he said.

The work since has been about efficiency rather than raw power, and the consequences were visible when he out-sprinted Jonathan Milan at AlUla without touching his biggest gear. “The sprint I won against Milan, I didn’t do it with the 11, but with the 13,” Malucelli explained.

What Malucelli is prepared to share is the outcome, not the process. He confirmed a switch to 165 mm cranks and a 56 chainring, explaining that his previous setup capped his top speed.

“With the 170s I couldn’t turn it and I lacked speed… in the sprint I would reach 72, 73 km/h and couldn’t go beyond that,” he said. The change has not made him stronger on paper. “It’s not that to stay with the others I’m doing 20 watts more,” he noted. “The power-to-weight ratio stays the same.”

The logic is mechanical, not mystical. A shorter crank reduces the lever arm, a larger chainring increases development, and over a sprint the gains add up. “It’s mathematics,” Malucelli said. “You gain 26 centimetres per pedal stroke… four metres is two bikes.” That is the extent of the explanation he is willing to give. The rest stays inside the team.

That restraint mirrors XDS Astana’s broader revival. The 2025 season demanded pragmatism and trust as the team fought its way back from the wrong side of the rankings. Riders were encouraged to find marginal gains that translated into points and wins, and the collective response was enough to secure WorldTour status. Early 2026 has carried the same feel. Visibility and results are there, the blueprint is not.

Malucelli’s AlUla win sits comfortably within that pattern. It arrived alongside GC relevance for the team and continued momentum into February, rather than as an isolated surprise. Crucially, Malucelli frames his own progress with realism. “If we do ten sprints, I lose eight,” he said of Milan. “But every three sprints, one doesn’t go perfectly for him… If I win two out of ten, I’m happy.” It is confidence without bravado, and it fits a team that has rebuilt itself by stacking small, repeatable gains.

The label that has followed Malucelli for years also comes under scrutiny. Asked about being seen as a sprinter who wins in the East but not in Europe, he pointed to near-misses and opportunity rather than geography. “Let’s try doing 20 sprints in Europe and see how it goes,” he said. “Obviously, I won’t win 10 races, because the level is higher. But let’s try.”

That challenge now extends into the coming weeks. The UAE Tour looms as a test of whether the gains translate again, while talk of a Giro d'Italia start remains conditional on results. Malucelli has asked the question; the team is considering it.

For now, the balance that defines XDS Astana’s resurgence remains intact. The evidence is public. The reasoning is not. As Malucelli put it, smiling but immovable, “I can’t tell you, otherwise we give away the secret.”