XDS Astana scores over 1000 UCI points in one day, but: "No goal anymore"
On Wednesday, XDS Astana suddenly surged in the UCI points rankings. By dominating the Tour of Oman with the Italian-Spanish duo Christian Scaroni and Cristian Rodriguez—finishing first, second, and fourth respectively in the Asian Championships—the Chinese team amassed an impressive 1,065 points in a single day. However, points are no longer the primary goal, emphasizes team director Dmitriy Fofonov.
To give you an idea of how remarkable what the Astana riders achieved in these relatively small races is, we put the points into perspective. A rider who wins a monument race like the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix earns 800 UCI points. Winners of the overall classification in the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España can bank 1,100 points. Astana collected almost as many points in one day as you can earn at the end of a Grand Tour. Madness.
"That’s quite a haul, yes," laughs Fofonov into our microphone in Oman. "I think we made smart choices. We came here with a team full of climbers, plus Alberto Bettiol for the flat stages. This isn’t our first time winning here in Oman. We’ve also been successful with Vincenzo Nibali and twice with Alexey Lutsenko. So we knew we had to focus entirely on the general classification. And that’s entirely decided on the last day on Green Mountain. That plan worked out perfectly."
Not focused on UCI points
That they finished first and second might suggest that UCI points were an end goal. This is strongly denied by Fofonov. "We only thought about winning. Believe me, we prefer to fight for victories. Everything else that came along was a bonus. The race situation, where Scaroni had to drop back first and Rodriguez waited for him, allowed them to pace themselves well. That led to this super successful day."
The notion that UCI points are not the leading priority seems to be a general standard within the team. This is surprising since a year ago the team saved its WorldTour license precisely by deliberately chasing points. This strategy drew criticism this week from Michael Matthews, who says UCI points are destroying cycling and that teams like Astana pit their riders against each other.
Fofonov disagrees with that as well. "We are in a completely different situation than last year," he explains. "Back then we were in trouble. Points were absolutely necessary, so we made a one-time plan. Against our nature, just to secure our license. In the fourteen years I was with the team before that, the term 'UCI points' was never mentioned. We have always been a team that races for wins. I still believe that points come naturally when you do that."
"We are now entering a new three-year cycle that will determine promotion and relegation," says Fofonov. "You can afford to possibly lose points now because a new cycle is starting anyway. Suppose we score few points now, there’s still next year to make up for it. If that happens again, then you only need to start thinking about points again in 2028. It’s a kind of emergency strategy that you only apply in that situation."
New mentality
According to Fofonov, Astana is not the only team thinking this way. "Most WorldTeams approach it like this. Last year may have been different, but now I feel everyone thinks like us. Young riders want to win races, not just collect as many points as possible. That’s what we, as sports directors, want to pass on. I wouldn’t want it any other way."
The Kazakh also notices it in the team atmosphere. "We ride with a very different mentality compared to last season. Racing for victories is the approach that suits us best. You don’t want to start with three strong riders and let a win slip away just because you want to score points with all three. I assure you we won’t race that way in the coming year. Astana is about winning races."
On one point, Fofonov does see room for improvement in the team of his good friend Alexander Vinokourov. "Maybe we scored too few points in WorldTour races last year. Someone like Christian Scaroni earned most of his points below the WorldTour level, while I hope they can compete for podiums also at the highest level this year. Like in the Ardennes classics. Besides that, of course, we want to keep winning many races," concludes the Asian team director.
