The WorldTour teams are facing a fierce battle to remain in the sport's top league as the UCI's three-year promotion/relegation cycle ends in October. XDS Astana made some ground in their quest to remain in the WorldTour, gaining 477 points over 18th-placed Cofidis in the five weeks of the season, but still have a long way to go.
XDS Astana finished the combined 2023 and 2024 season rankings in 21st place and need to make it into the top 18 at the end of 2025 to stay in the WorldTour through 2028.
The team had a 4,719-point deficit to 18th placed Cofidis at the beginning of the year (in the 2023-2024 rankings), and after the first two WorldTour rounds, the gap has come down to 4,242 points - it's moving in the right direction but not as fast as the team had anticipated.
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XDS Astana came into the Tour Down Under with high hopes for the overall classification. Sports director Mark Renshaw told Cyclingnews, "Our objective is the GC here with [Sergio] Higuita and [Martin] Lopez - dream scenario, we have two in the top 10, but in reality, I need one of those guys in the top five. The podium is the objective, somewhere on the podium, but a top five will be a good result."
The team missed those goals at the Tour Down Under, with Higuita the highest-placed in 23rd. However, they had far better luck in the one-day races where Aaron Gate placed second in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and 10th in the Surf Coast Classic.
Combined with strong rides from Cristian Scaroni - second in the Trofeo Calvia and Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana 1969 - and a few more top-10 finishes in the Challenge Mallorca from the team pushed XDS Astana into fourth in the February 3, 2025 UCI Team Rankings with a net gain of 447 points on Cofidis.
XDS Astana's main competition for the final WorldTour position in 2026 appears to come from Picnic-PostNL (17th), Cofidis, Arkéa-B&B Hotels (19th), and Uno-X Mobility (20th), while ambitious teams like Tudor Pro Cycling and Q36.5 would need a minor miracle to supplant any of the top teams with five-figure deficits to 18th place.
Despite podium performances for Uno-X Mobility at the AlUla Tour and Challenge Mallorca, the Norwegian team suffered a minor net 22-point loss to Cofidis while Arkéa-B&B Hotels lost 347 points.
Meanwhile, Lotto and Israel-Premier Tech appear to be strongly in contention for promotion, sitting in ninth and 15th, respectively.
Michael Woods brought in a good haul of points for Israel-Premier Tech at the Tour Down Under with 10th in the final classification and 12th in the Cadel Evans race. Even with the team's strong position, he told Cyclingnews they aren't letting their guard down.
"We're not counting all the eggs until they've hatched," Woods said. "This is a really important year for us, just to confirm that we get back into the WorldTour. We got burned three years ago, so we don't want to rest on our laurels. We don't want to rest on the points that we have. We want to be an exciting team."
The points-based system for deciding which teams stay and which teams leave the WorldTour in 2026 is putting pressure on all of the teams, with almost the entire peloton coming into Tour Down Under already at a high level of fitness.
"Ten years ago, when I first did this race, I had a really good breakout race," Woods said. "The guys were still moving, but the level of depth now is quite incredible. You do a full effort now, and you really don't even get rid of half the peloton. We noticed that [on stage 3] when we took control and George Bennett went as fast as he could up the climb, there were still 70 riders left.
"It's just a testament to this new peloton, the new style of training, as well as the relegation system, it's forcing everyone to go after every point possible."
The battle for points continues this week with the 2.1-ranked Étoile de Bessèges and ProSeries Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The next WorldTour round comes at the UAE Tour beginning on February 17.
