XDS Astana continue to be one of the busiest teams on the transfer market, with Victor Langellotti reportedly close to joining the Kazakh outfit, while Diego Ulissi is expected to extend his career for at least another season.
Astana to sign Langellotti
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Ciro Scognamiglio, Langellotti is nearing a move from Netcompany INEOS to XDS Astana. The report adds that the transfer may not necessarily wait until the end of the season, with the possibility of the Monegasque rider joining Astana before 2027 still on the table.
Langellotti has steadily established himself as Monaco's leading rider over the past few seasons. After spending seven years with Burgos BH, the 30-year-old earned a WorldTour move to INEOS Grenadiers ahead of the 2025 season.
He quickly repaid that confidence by becoming the first Monegasque rider to win a WorldTour stage at the Tour de Pologne, adding another milestone to a career that had already seen him claim stage victories at the Volta a Portugal and the Presidential Tour of Türkiye.
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Ulissi to race on in 2027
Langellotti is not the only rider expected to reinforce Astana's project. Scognamiglio also reports that Diego Ulissi has reached an agreement to renew his contract, meaning the Italian veteran is set to continue racing in 2027.
Ulissi had previously said he would postpone any decision on his future until after the Giro d'Italia. However, the latest reports suggest the deal is now complete, with only an official announcement from XDS Astana still pending.
Since turning professional in 2010, Ulissi has amassed 49 career victories, including eight Giro d'Italia stage wins. Remarkably, he has won at least one race in every season of his professional career, although he is still searching for his first victory of 2026.
A versatile rider equally capable on punchy climbs and in hilly stage races, Ulissi has also claimed overall victories at the Giro di Sicilia, Tour of Slovenia, Tour of Austria and Tour of Luxembourg during his career, amongst others.
Ulissi wore the Maglia Rosa at the Giro d'Italia 2025
Quintero expected to join INEOS development programme
Elsewhere on the transfer market, Colombian youngster Juan Diego Quintero is reportedly close to joining the INEOS Grenadiers Racing Academy.
The talented rider has been without a team since Petrolike folded in June, but he now looks set to continue his development within the British team's academy structure, providing him with a pathway towards the WorldTour.
Quintero is regarded as one of Colombia's brightest young prospects. The 19-year-old climber stepped up to Continental level with GW Erco Shimano in 2025 before moving to Petrolike this season, where he produced several encouraging performances in Europe, including fourth at the prestigious Giro del Belvedere and eighth at the GP Palio del Recioto.
Félix SernaCycling Journalist
Félix Serna is a writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2025. He covers professional cycling across both the men’s and women’s calendars, with a focus on UCI rankings, race developments, and rider performance. His work includes interview-based reports, liveblogs, and tournament coverage designed to provide clear, accurate context throughout the season.
In his reporting, Félix regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical reference. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies.
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- That's literally what Girmay was saying. To each their own. The question put to him by the reporter was that sprints are boring. Learn to read.Pogboom13-07-2026
- Funny how you equate physical performance in sport (of a very small number of individuals in a small number of sports) with just about anything - Intelligence, morals, finances, geopolitics. Why don’t you move back instead of wasting your life in the West?Jumpyjohn13-07-2026
- Lets see after the Vuelta, am sure his future depends on what he can show.Jumpyjohn13-07-2026
- Not going to look for comparison details but if there wasn’t a TTT comparing positions is a bit difficult. Anyone want to estimate where Seixas’ classification and gap would stand had there been a classical opening stage? How much did he/others lose?Jumpyjohn13-07-2026
- Antidopingdatabase dot historic overview of doping in sport Nice short concise resume of some of the major cases Cyclisme-dopage dot Tour de France 1972 the real numbers of doping Just a way to search for access, after that you can toggle around for any year, find stats or see listsJumpyjohn13-07-2026
- Nobody would have had any wins, whole races would have been cancelled out of not attracting any known clean riders. The website I directed to makes a virtual list of potential winners, complete unknowns way down in classifications (who probably just didn’t have the cash to spend on experimenting - musn’t forget you could hardly make a living out of cycling if not on the podium but for plenty it was a useful way of getting hard to earn extra cash). It helps to have an interest in history but even more to put it into the context of the time. People didn’t consider enhancing products as doping yet, a product or method that helped was just an advantage over a rival, coffee, alcohol, rat poison, everyone had their own cocktails and ideas, it’s the history of humanity, that’s how we discovered which plants, preparation or cooking methods, mushrooms, herbs, spices had which properties and were useful or toxic. Another very interesting point very rarely discussed is the water bottle limit that existed at the time, something like no more than 2 or 2L of refills per race/stage which was basically like an incitement to cheat, not only chemically to better endure dehydration mentally but also by stopovers in bars and stuff.Jumpyjohn13-07-2026
- So, as you're saying, Pogi is a fool from your perspective!?!? You Westerners must suffer from a complex because the Balkans are destroying you. We have Dončić, Jokić, Djoković, Pogačar-The Goat. You all have helpless pathetic ego's, and are angry and frustrated. Your journalists are once again opening up allegations about Pogi doping. Some even want to blot Pogi out, as if he doesn't exist. Greetings from sunny Croatia and Slovenia... the Balkans!!!mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales13-07-2026
- Tadej Pogačar is facing another wave of doping allegations on social media and from skeptics following his historically dominant performances at the Tour de France. I want Vingegaard to be put through a scanner and analyzed in detail because it is impossible that in the 2nd toughest race in the world in May in the toughest sport, he made all 180+ cyclists look like amateurs with 80% strength. I want him to be examined in detail. He must be doping, just like Pogi. I want Merlier to be tested for gene doping and everything possible, because he must be cheating. Belgians, speak up!!! It is not possible that he is 5 times better than everyone else in the sprints, and he makes them look like amateurs. He must be doping, just like Pogi. I just want to hear Belgians on this topic.mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales13-07-2026
- Great answer. Whats clear is that in the modern era Merckx wouldn’t have the records he has. He’d have been banned along the way. This is a different era in that respect as well.RidesHills13-07-2026
- Regarding Seixas being in 6th at the first rest day, it’s interesting to see where Pogačar was at his firstGT race, the 2019 Vuelta. He was in the top 10 and bounced around a lot between 9th and 3rd, but his podium was due to those incredible three wins. Seixas has plenty of time to actually make the moves later in the race. I love the way the guy rides and see all things good in him so far. It’s a worthy first Tour, and will I do hope It gets better for him.RidesHills13-07-2026
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