XDS Astana announce climber heavy lineup for La Vuelta 2025 including Fortunato, Tejada, Poels, Higuita & Lopez
Cycling
Teams and fans alike are counting down the days until the 2025 Vuelta a Espana kicks off on the 23rd of April. For the XDS Astana Team, it marks another chance to pick up vital UCI points in their fight against World Tour relegation.
For La Vuelta 2025, it seems Astana's target is in the mountains. Packing their team with plenty of experienced and proven climbing nous, Astana bring a core of Lorenzo Fortunato - already King of the Mountains at the Giro d'Italia earlier this year, Harold Tejada - fresh off the back of completing the Tour de France earlier this summer, Wout Poels - a stage winner at the Vuelta and the Tour in recent years and Sergio Higuita - a stage winner at La Vuelta all the way back in 2019 and a 14th overall finisher at the Tour earlier this summer.
24-year-old Colombian Harold Martin Lopez starts just his second ever Grand Tour, but the climber comes to the race in good form with four wins already added to his palmares in 2025. The vastly experienced Fausto Masnada, stage winner at the Giro and former Il Lombardia should also offer strong mountain support, or a threat from the breakaways.
Completing the team, Nicolas Vinokurov, son of team boss Alexander returns to La Vuelta for the second year in a row. And Italian talent Nicola Conci rounds out the lineup, completing what is - on paper at least - a team full of threats and capable of competing for stage wins and GC success this Grand Tour. Whether it plays out like that for Astana on the road, only time will tell.
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XDS Astana Team for the 2025 Vuelta a Espana:
Lorenzo Fortunato
Harold Tejada
Wout Poels
Harold Martin Lopez
Sergio Higuita
Fausto Masnada
Nicola Conci
Nicolas Vinokurov
Harold Tejada
Wout Poels
Harold Martin Lopez
Sergio Higuita
Fausto Masnada
Nicola Conci
Nicolas Vinokurov
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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