Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Saturday, January 4, 2025
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2024 Tour de France | 2024 Giro d'Italia
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. - Benjamin Franklin
Bill McGann’s book Why Your Bike Is Made in Asia: My career in bicycles as I watched two continents squander an industry is available in print, Kindle eBook & Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Upcoming racing:
- January 18 - 26: Tour Down Under
- January 25 - February 2: Challenge Vuelta a Mallorca
- January 25: Ruta de la Cerámica - Gran Premio Castellón
- January 26: Classica Comunitat a Valenciana 1969
- February 2: GP La Marseillaise
Latest completed racing:
- January 3: X20 Trofee Koksijde-Vlaamse Druivenveldrit Cross
- January 1: GP Sven Nys Cross
- December 30: Diegem Cyclocross
- December 26: Gavere Cyclocross
- December 27: Exact Cross Loenhout-Azencross
- December 15: Namur Cyclocross-Citadelcross
- November 17: Flandriencross
- November 3: European Cyclocross Championships
- November 1: X20 Trofee Oudenaarde-Koppenbergcross
Here’s the team’s news:
With the team presentation in Temse, Lotto Cycling Team has officially kicked off 2025. CEO Stéphane Heulot shares his outlook for the season: "Returning to the World Tour remains our main goal."
To the sounds of Daft Punk, under red lighting and showcasing the brand-new team kit, Lotto Cycling Team launched its new season this morning in Temse, Belgium, at the team’s new Service Course. During the presentation for sponsors, partners and the press, CEO Stéphane Heulot provided a preview of the upcoming season.
2025 Lotto Cycling Team
"As with every year, the counter is set to zero," Heulot said. "You must always approach a cycling season with humility. Our group has changed significantly, so we’ll see how things unfold. But we’re determined to continue along the positive path we started on last year."
"That path included highlights such as a Belgian national championship, overall victories in the UAE Tour and the Tour of Guangxi, and a stage win in the Tour de France. "Thanks to all our great performances, we’ve been in the UCI World Ranking top 10 for two years now. The points we’ve accumulated exceeded our expectations. Even with a team that seems less strong on paper, we aim to maintain our position. We’ll try to achieve this by adding more one-day races to our calendar. For example, we won’t compete in the Giro d’Italia, Paris-Nice, or Tirreno Adriatico, as we hope to gather more UCI points in one-day races. Our ultimate goal remains to return to the World Tour in 2026."
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Stéphane Heulot was pleased to welcome everyone to Temse, the new beating heart of the team. "I wouldn’t call this a new beginning, but it is certainly a new chapter for us. The building, our Service Course, is an important step for our development and future growth. It’s not just for our staff—it’s already a place where our people enjoy coming together—but also for our partners. This will serve as a base for Orbea, we have solar panels from MR Solar on the roof, and much more. Of course, we are eager to welcome new partners. It takes time, and these are not the easiest economic times, but we remain confident in the value of our team. It would be great to have news by the Tour de France. In the meantime, we are fortunate to have the continued support of Lotto and our other sponsors."
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Here's the team's update:
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe will start the new year with 29 riders and a new jersey design. The fresh look will make its racing debut at the Australian Championships. On 12 January, Jai Hindley and Sam Welsford will be the first riders to race in the 2025 kit. This marks the start of the ‘Down Under’ block of races, which runs until early February and will dominate the first few weeks of the new season: Down Under Classic, Santos Tour Down Under, Surf Coast Classic and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. Ahead of the races, we take a look at the nine new additions to the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe team. In the first of three parts:
The first set of new riders.
Finn Fisher-Black
Finn celebrated his 23rd birthday just before Christmas and arrived home in New Zealand in good time. Here he will spend the next few days preparing for his early start to the season. Finn will compete in the entire Australian racing block before moving on to the UAE Tour. After this opening he will take a break from racing in March to concentrate on the Ardennes Classics. Whether it's one-day races or selected stages of tours, this hilly terrain suits Finn perfectly. He has always celebrated his successes when the terrain is bumpy, and he can show off his explosiveness on a kicker.
Oier Lazkano
Reinforcement from the Basque Country - reinforcement for the classics. Oier is one of the new riders to join the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe team as it continues to refocus on the classics. For the 25-year-old, the opening weekend will be the highlight of the season. Oier is in the same position as the many fans who love the tradition of cycling: the classics season starts with Omloop and Kuurne. A year ago, he was on the podium in Kuurne. That's reason enough to look forward to the spectacle in Belgium and northern France. His big dream? To become the first Spaniard to win the Roonde. But before he hits the cobbles, bergs & co., Oier will be logging his first race kilometers of the year in the ten days of the Etoile de Bessèges and the Tour of the Algarve.
Gianni Moscon
The development of young talent requires experienced teammates. Gianni is entering his tenth WorldTour season – now racing in the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe kit. His experience will pay off as the season progresses. He is as much in demand at the Italian spring classics like Strade Bianche as he is on the stage races, where he is at home on any terrain. His first race for the new team is planned for the Mallorca Challenge. Originally from Trentino, Gianni has lived in Innsbruck for many years. Not only did he finish fifth at the 2018 Road World Championships, but he also won a stage at the 2021 Tour of the Alps here. He almost crowned his season that year with victory at Paris-Roubaix - only a puncture prevented his biggest triumph.
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Here’s the team’s announcement:
Chinese cyclist Haoyu Su (24) will compete with the UCI WorldTour team XDS Astana Team under a two-season agreement (2025 and 2026). This marks Su as the 30th rider in the squad, concluding the team's transfer campaign for the 2025 season.
Haoyu Su
“It is a great honor to join XDS Astana Team and bring China mainland back to the WorldTour – the top league in professional cycling. This is a huge step for me, and I am thankful for this unique opportunity. There is much work ahead, and I aim to gain experience in European racing. I will give my best to represent China at the highest level and contribute to the team’s goals in every race I take part in”. – said Haoyu Su.
“Several Chinese riders have competed in the WorldTour, and the arrival of a new rider from China mainland was only a matter of time. With XDS joining as a major investor, it is fitting that through our team, China mainland returns to the global professional scene. Su is young and still needs some experience in top-level racing, but he has potential and, most importantly, the determination to grow. I believe he will support us in key races in Asia and Europe” – said Alexandr Vinokurov, General Manager of XDS Astana Team.
The XDS Astana Team is preparing for its milestone 20th season in the WorldTour. As tradition dictates, the team will start its season in Australia at the Santos Tour Down Under.
In 2025, the team will ride with a new major investor, XDS, and premium bikes from its X-Lab brand. The roster includes 30 riders from 11 countries.
The full 2025 XDS Astana Team roster is:
Davide Ballerini (Italy, 30), Alberto Bettiol (Italy, 31), Cees Bol (Netherlands, 29), Clément Champoussin (France, 26), Anthon Charmig (Denmark, 26), Nicola Conci (Italy, 27), Yevgeniy Fedorov (Kazakhstan, 24), Lorenzo Fortunato (Italy, 28), Aaron Gate (New Zealand, 34), Michele Gazzoli (Italy, 25), Sergio Higuita (Colombia, 27), Florian Samuel Kajamini (Italy, 21), Max Kanter (Germany, 27), Anton Kuzmin (Kazakhstan, 28), Harold Martín López (Ecuador, 24), Matteo Malucelli (Italy, 31), Fausto Masnada (Italy,31), Henok Mulubrhan (Eritrea, 25), Wout Poels (Netherlands, 37), Alessandro Romele (Italy, 21), Christian Scaroni (Italy, 27), Ide Schelling (Netherlands, 26), Haoyu Su (China, 24), Harold Tejada (Colombia, 27), Mike Teunissen (Netherlands, 32), Davide Toneatti (Italy, 23), Diego Ulissi (Italy, 35), Darren Van Bekkum (Netherlands, 22), Simone Velasco (Italy, 29), Nicolas Vinokurov (Kazakhstan, 22).
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