Astana Qazaqstan will break up with wilier as a bicycle sponsor in 2025.New Chinese investor XDS Carbon-Tech will use the team as a vehicle to promote the bike brand X-Lab, which the team will soon start using.

The most likely bikes of choice are the X-Lab's AD9aero bike and the lightweight RS9, both of which showcase the Chinese brand's worldtour performance bike's transition to the high end.

Promotional materials claim that the AD9 was transported to the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub Wind tunnel (Cyclingnews is also conducting comparative wind tunnel tests) and that the Chinese brand surpassed Canyon Aeroad CFR.

On the other hand, the lightweight RS9 appears to be being used by the existing China-sponsored cycling team, and the brand claims that the frame adopts ultra-high modulus Toray T1100 carbon fiber.

Many world tour teams have adopted aero and lightweight bikes to split between the sprint and climbing stages, so we expect that in 2025 both the AD9 and RS9 will be used by the team.

The X-Lab is likely to be used soon next month, and the Astana・Kazakstan training camp will be held from 12-7 to 19.-Cyclingnews understands that some riders have already received bikes.

Alex Dowsett, a new performance engineer at Astana Qazaqstan, was also reportedly working with x-Lab to test and improve the bike. Indeed, Dowsett's involvement may explain the X-Lab's choice to test the bike in Silverstone, rather than in a wind tunnel close to the team or the brand itself.

The XDS brand has historically provided entry-level in the cycling market with an extensive offering of mountain bikes, e-bikes and children's bikes. The X-Lab sub-brand, on the other hand, represents a premium offer from a Chinese manufacturer. Given that the parent company and carbon products maker XDS Carbon Tech have invested in the team, it is expected that the X-Lab brand will expand this high-end product to the European market.

The Shenzen-based company is the largest of its kind, claiming a production capacity of 500 million units, and its top-of-the-line mountain bikes are already being used at the Olympics by Chinese mountain bike teams.

Shenzhen is widely considered to be a global center of bicycle manufacturing, and major brands usually produce carbon frames in partnership with Chinese manufacturers such as XDS, who are likely to own several facilities in the region.

The investment in Astan Qazaqstan from XDS is understood to be substantial, and will push the Kazakh team to budget levels, along with the uae Team Emirates and Visma-Lease A Bike super teams.

The team is also trying to defend its World tour status ahead of the 2026 season's relegation, so it could be registered as a Chinese world Tour team in 2025.