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Team Astana

Page 41 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
I don't think so, cycling is such a niche sport. It's not very good for advertising. If a company wants to promote its brand, there are much better ways than cycling. And for the 30-40 million euros a year a cycling team spends, there are other sports that offer better value for money.

EURO 2024 will start soon. Look how many Chinese sponsors are there: AliExpress, BYD, Hisense, Vivo

euro2024.jpg


The only way Chinese money comes into cycling is if there is a Chinese star rider who brings sponsors. Which seems unlikely that China will ever produce such a rider. Looking at PCS, the Chinese have quite a few Conti teams but no Chinese rider has been able to move on to the next level. It's likely that talented Chinese or other Asian athletes will all choose other sports as cycling is quite European-centric and requires them to leave their country at a youngish age.
Lyu had the chance to be that, but the pandemic completely shot a hole in any real chance he had to develop. Now he's in his mid-20s and only just getting back toward where he was in 2019.
 
Well, maybe Mrs Xi Jinping (who herself can belt out a tune or two) was so impressed with the folk performance atop the Tourmalet (or maybe it was the "fromage") that she got hubby to ok the Astana deal?
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ex...in-astana-qazaqstan-to-create-new-super-team/
Chinese carbon product manufacturer XDS Carbon-Tech, one of the largest companies of its kind in the world, will invest in the Astana Qazaqstan team, with a long-term strategy to compete with the biggest teams in the WorldTour.

Cyclingnews understands that the Shenzen-based company will become a major investor in the team for a period ranging from five to 10 years.
Picking Astana was maybe not the best choice, but Kazakhstan ... China ... Asia, yeah.
 
Are there any further rumors about what riders could be joining Astana next season? The article mentions Kaden Groves but they also have 18 riders out of contract so there should be a huge shake up of riders. Especially it might be an opportunity for a super domestique to ride for themselves in GC.

I do hope they get enough points next year to get WT status because I wouldn't want Uno-X to compete with a super team for the guaranteed WT and GT spots for PTs.
 
Are there any further rumors about what riders could be joining Astana next season? The article mentions Kaden Groves but they also have 18 riders out of contract so there should be a huge shake up of riders. Especially it might be an opportunity for a super domestique to ride for themselves in GC.

I do hope they get enough points next year to get WT status because I wouldn't want Uno-X to compete with a super team for the guaranteed WT and GT spots for PTs.
I think you could use some coaching up in the how to hope department.
 
they'll probably want a Chinese rider or two, I guess. The breakaway killer would have been a great fit for a Cav-focused team, but he's been off the bike for 8 years now.

But Lyu Xianjin and Ma Binyan are reasonably good as well.
Sure but that's not going to make them a super team. I'm thinking more of what top-100 riders they might be interested in. I guess Vlasov would fit in with their eastern team.
 
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Can they claw their way up the UCI team rankings and avoid relegation:


 
Well I thought Astana would be hoovering up riders in an effort to avoid relegation.
But per PCS no signings yet.
A miracle needs to happen for Astana to avoid relegation. Investing in Cavendish was a decent PR move, but terrible for their World Tour prospects. They're more than 3000 UCI points away from safety. So unless they can magically sign Evenepoel or Pogačar, they will relegate. Or they'll have to buy the WT license of Ineos or something.

 
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A miracle needs to happen for Astana to avoid relegation. Investing in Cavendish was a decent PR move, but terrible for their World Tour prospects. They're more than 3000 UCI points away from safety. So unless they can magically sign Evenepoel or Pogačar, they will relegate. Or they'll have to buy the WT license of Ineos or something.

They don't really need that elite level of upgrades. They need to come up to the level of around that EF/Bora/Lotto were last year so around 12-13000 points or so depending on what happens the rest of the season.
 
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They don't really need that elite level of upgrades. They need to come up to the level of around that EF/Bora/Lotto were last year so around 12-13000 points or so depending on what happens the rest of the season.
The problem is that none of the riders on their current roster seem to be able to do that, and that riders who move to Astana generally start performing worse. New signings like Ballerini and Schelling have fallen of a cliff results-wise. So even if they sign some good riders, it's far from guaranteed that they will bring some good results.

I just don't see it happening next year. Maybe they'll surprise with a significant increase in performance, but to close the points gap they have to do something special.
 
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The problem is that none of the riders on their current roster seem to be able to do that, and that riders who move to Astana generally start performing worse. New signings like Ballerini and Schelling have fallen of a cliff results-wise. So even if they sign some good riders, it's far from guaranteed that they will bring some good results.

I just don't see it happening next year. Maybe they'll surprise with a significant increase in performance, but to close the points gap they have to do something special.
Well, surely the chinese takeover could bring with it an overhaul of the whole team structure as well so what's been true in the past might not necessarily apply to the future. We'll see I guess. It would be terrible for other PT teams wanting access to guaranteed WT and GT spots if there was a future superteam in the PT ranks though since they would likely hog one of the 2 wild card spots for 3 years.
 
The problem is that none of the riders on their current roster seem to be able to do that, and that riders who move to Astana generally start performing worse. New signings like Ballerini and Schelling have fallen of a cliff results-wise. So even if they sign some good riders, it's far from guaranteed that they will bring some good results.

I just don't see it happening next year. Maybe they'll surprise with a significant increase in performance, but to close the points gap they have to do something special.
Agree on Schelling, but Ballerini was injured for all of the spring and then did the Giro-Tour back to back and performing admirably.