"Sometimes we no longer focus on winning the race" - XDS Astana DS on the ruthless battle for UCI points

XDS Astana has had absolutely stellar first two months of the new season, placing second on the provisional UCI ranking, only behind UAE Team Emirates - XRG. The Kazakh team already reduced its 5000-point gap to just 2785 points, but their quest for saving the WorldTour license is far from completed.

It almost feels like the arrival of title sponsor XDS kick-started the team again: "Astana remains Astana, XDS in addition, it helps, we can say that it helps but Astana remains Astana we have our experience, in sport we know that there are ups and downs and we see that we have new objectives which are set and there you go, Astana you know it well, you just have to set an objective and we go for it," says sports director Dmitriy Fofonov in an interview for Cyclism'Actu.

"It's a great start to the season, but we have to keep going because the season doesn't end there. The important races are here, we're in the hunt for points and there are a lot of points to take but for the moment, the team has played its role well."

"The strategy is not the same, there are some races where we race differently, if we race for the win we race differently. Sometimes you have to be on the brakes. Until now, the team always liked to win and ride for the win, but now we have to adapt, we have to adapt the tactics for the hunt for points. Sometimes we no longer focus on winning the race but on being two or three riders in the top 10."

Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico will not dislodge the rule, the XDS Astana wants to bring back as many UCI points as possible: "We will collect as many points as possible, because Paris-Nice is not a fun, it is a first WorldTour, a small rehearsal for the Tour de France, we know that well. There are big armadas that are there, they have the responsibility for their leader, we will try to play our cards as best as possible."