Kazakhstani club XDS-Astana announced that it has abandoned last season's strategy of focusing on collecting UCI points. Last year, XDS-Astana set its focus on points to secure a place in the World Tour. The tactic paid off – 32 victories and 6,727 UCI points secured fourth place in the three-year standing.
However, it was decided that chasing points is no longer a priority. "We are riding with a completely different mentality than last season," said XDS-Astana sports director Dmitri Fofonov. "Racing for wins is what suits us best. If you have three strong riders at the start, you don't want to miss out on a victory just so all three can get points, do you? Astana's goal is to win. We are in a completely different situation than last year. Then we were struggling. We desperately needed points, so we made a one-time plan. It was against our nature, but necessary to secure the license. During the 14 years I rode for the team before that, the term 'UCI points' was never mentioned. We have always been a team that rides for wins. I still believe the points will come naturally."
Astana has started the current season successfully, having already achieved six victories, which puts them in second place in the UCI rankings behind UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Naturally, XDS-Astana's goal is to remain in the WorldTour even after the current three-year cycle, but the target is victories – and in top-level races – rather than targeted point collection at smaller events.
"We entered a new three-year cycle that determines promotion and relegation," said Fofonov. "Suppose we don't collect many points right now, but it can be made up next year. This means we don't have to think about points before 2028. It's a kind of emergency strategy that should only be implemented in such a situation. It is possible that we didn't collect enough points in WorldTour races last year. For example, Christian Scaroni earned his points mainly at a level lower than the WorldTour, but I hope that this year they will also be able to compete for titles at the top level, such as in the Ardennes classics. In addition, we naturally want to continue winning many races."
XDS-Astana abandoned the point-chasing strategy
