XDS Astana does very well in the Tour of Magnificent Qinghai in the relegation battle

Sunday, July 13, 2025 at 11:24 AM

Before the season, XDS Astana seemed doomed in the battle for promotion and relegation in the WorldTour, but the Kazakh team has now emerged victorious. In the recent Tour of Magnificent Qinghai, the team once again performed excellently by collecting a considerable number of UCI points.

After eight days of racing, Henok Mulubrhan was declared the overall winner. The 25-year-old Eritrean – in his second season for XDS Astana – defeated Uruguayan Guillermo Thomas Silva of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA after a thrilling battle . The difference between the two men after a week of racing: two seconds in Mulubhran’s favor.

This earns XDS Astana a lot of UCI points, which will be useful in the fight against relegation. For example, the overall winner of a multi-day 2.Pro race already receives two hundred points. And that's not all, because Harold Martín López finished third in the final classification for XDS Astana and thus also contributed his share.

Team principal Alexandre Vinokourov recently explained in an interview with Bistrot Vélo how he likely led his team to WorldTour status. Vinkourov's method is strongly reminiscent of "moneyball," a data-driven approach to achieving success on a limited budget by recruiting undervalued players.

We compiled statistics from the past three years and looked at the strength of the starting lists in various races. We already have forty extra racing days in 2025. Because the more days you race, the more points you can score. Winning a day is already worth 125 UCI points. I can now say: our program has worked well this year.

Full results

Powered byCyclingflash.com