XDS could pull out of Astana sponsorship as early as 2027

XDS is weighing up whether to continue as title sponsor of XDS Astana, and the Chinese bike brand could leave as soon as 2027, L’Équipe reports. According to the French newspaper, the company has also looked at backing a different team.

The partnership is currently two seasons old, having been announced on the second rest day of the 2024 Tour de France with a minimum term of five years.

“We are pleased that the management of XDS fully shares our goals and future vision for the project,” Vinokourov said.

XDS also replaced Wilier as bike supplier, and L’Équipe puts its investment on a par with the biggest budgets in the WorldTour. Astana have since gone from a relegation fight to fourth in the UCI team rankings in 2025 and sixth this year. Guillermo Thomas Silva, Davide Ballerini and Alberto Bettiol won three stages of the Giro d’Italia in May, and Max Kanter and Harold Tejada took stages at Paris-Nice.

L’Équipe links the uncertainty to the mood inside the team since Yana Seel came back as chief executive. Changes she has made are said to have upset people, and the paper reports that XDS is uneasy about a fresh fight for control at the top. Talks, and possibly an announcement, are expected as soon as next week.

Seel previously ran the team from 2019 to 2021, and has since worked for Lotto Dstny and UAE Team ADQ. L’Équipe describes a split in which she handles the commercial side and Vinokourov the racing. In an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws in October, though, she said sporting decisions such as transfers would be shared with Vinokourov and the performance staff, and she rejected talk of an old power struggle between them.

Her first spell ended over a disagreement about where the team’s money should come from. Premier Tech’s five years as co-owner and co-title sponsor also finished in 2021, and it was Seel, then managing director, who announced the Canadian company’s departure.

Astana have already signed Anthony Turgis and Nicolas Breuillard from TotalEnergies for 2027. The team has now finished in the top six of the UCI rankings for two years running.

“It won’t be easy to repeat that achievement in 2027. But I want to do everything I can to make sure the team functions as well as possible,” Seel said.