Astana Qazaqstan announced the signing of Clément Champoussin coming across from the embattled Arkéa-B&B Hotels team, adding strength to their team as they aspire to climb out of the relegation zone in the coming year and remain in the WorldTour in 2026.
The UCI's next cycle of promotion and relegation comes at the end of next season, and Astana have been at rock bottom of the WorldTour teams and are behind ProTeams Lotto Dstny, Israel-Premier Tech and Uno-X Mobility in the 2023-2024 points totals.
They face an uphill battle in 2025 to climb over 18th place Cofidis, but they have made six key signings, snatching up Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Aaron Gate (Burgos BH), Sergio Higuita (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) and Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) - making them the clear 'winners' in the 2024-2025 transfers market.
Champoussin won the Giro della Toscana and finished second overall in the Arctic Race of Norway this year along with podiums in the GP de Wallonie, Circuito de Getxo and a stage of the Tour de la Provence. He accumulated 681 points this season, making him the fourth-most valuable transfer into the team for 2025 after Bettiol, Ulissi and Gate.
The move comes as Arkéa-B&B Hotels have serious concerns about the team's future as their deal with both title sponsors ends at the conclusion of the 2025 season and their prospects of remaining in the WorldTour continue to fall as they are outside the top 18 teams.
The transfer season should be the time when teams look to bolster their rosters to move up the rankings and qualify for the 2026-2028 WorldTour. However, while Astana have secured the services of seven seasoned riders, Arkéa-B&B Hotels are letting Champoussin go before the end of his contract.
"First of all, I would like to thank the management of Arkéa-B&B Hotels for their open and professional approach during the negotiations for this transfer," Astana manager Alexandr Vinokourov said in the team's press release.
"Champoussin had a very strong 2024 season, and we expect that he will be able to develop even further within our team. He will definitely have the opportunity to do so."
Under UCI rules, the points a rider earns during the season stay with his team, so while Astana Qazaqstan have not directly benefitted from their transfers yet, their new signings together have earned 4,718 points this year.
Will it be enough to keep them in the WorldTour in 2026?
Astana Qazaqstan are currently 4,782 points behind Cofidis, who are 18th, in the 2023-2024 points totals. If all of the riders scored at the same level as this season in the coming year, it looks as if Astana will still be short of points in 2025 and could be facing relegation in 2026.
With only 27 riders confirmed to their roster for next year, they could still be in the market for more high-scoring riders.
As of publication, the top riders of 2024 who have yet to announce their team for the coming season include Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Mihkels Madis (Intermarché-Wanty), Michael Valgren and Rui Costa (both EF Education-EasyPost) and Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla).
Movistar pad out team with Cepeda
The Movistar Team were not in trouble when it comes to relegation in 2026 and have kept the ship steady with another smart signing in Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).
Cepeda won the overall Tour of Qinghai Lake in July and a stage of the Tour du Limousin. With a steady stream of solid finishes, the Ecuadorian earned 770 points this season. Cepeda is joined by Orluis Aular (977 points) in transferring from Caja Rural to Movistar.
The team also signed double Vuelta a España stage winner Pablo Castrillo from Kern Pharma, and Natnael Tesfazion (Lidl-Trek) to keep their potential standings intact.
Winners and losers in the transfer season so far
Lotto Dstny are losing their second title sponsor and will race simply as Lotto next year, but after being relegated after the 2022 season, they have been steadily in the top 10 of the rankings and are currently 9th in the 2023-2024 points totals.
However, they suffered greatly in this year's transfer season, giving up riders with a combined tally of almost 5,300 points.
While Lotto kept their top scorers Maxim Van Gils and Arnaud De Lie, they let Victor Campenaerts go to Visma-Lease a Bike, Pascal Eenkhoorn to Soudal-Quickstep, Andreas Kron to Uno-X Mobility, Sylvain Moniquet to Cofidis, Harm Vanhoucke to Q36.5 and Florian Vermeersch to UAE Team Emirates.
Because of their strong 2023 and 2024 seasons, however, they should remain safely in the top 15 as long as they continue to perform as they have with their existing riders and incoming neo-pros. Reuben Thompson (Groupama-FDJ) and Lars Craps (Flanders Baloise) are their only new signings aside from five devo riders.
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale were the next hardest hit in the transfer season, mainly because of Ben O'Connor's move to Jayco-AlUla. The Australian gained 4,096 points this season and was a major factor in offsetting Jayco-AlUla's loss of Simon Yates to Visma-Lease a Bike.
The French team lost riders who scored a combined total of 3,932 points this year and were not able to replace O'Connor's potential. Time trial specialist Stefan Bissegger was their biggest acquisition.
Cofidis, currently on the bubble in 18th in the 2023-2024 points total, lost Guillaume Martin to Groupama-FDJ and Gorka Izagirre and Simon Geschke to retirement but have signed Alex Aranburu (Movistar), Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Emanuel Buchmann (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). With 27 riders currently confirmed for next season, they still have room to add value to their 2025 roster.
The top teams look set to remain in control of the UCI rankings, with UAE Team Emirates losing slightly because of the departure of Ulissi and Marc Hirschi (to Tudor Pro Cycling). Visma-Lease a Bike boosted their potential with Simon Yates and Axel Zingle (Cofidis), while Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe picked up a trio of riders from Visma and snatched Laurence Pithie from Groupama-FDJ.
Ineos Grenadiers have struggled the most of the top five teams, losing Ethan Hayter to Quickstep and Jhonatan Narvaez to UAE Team Emirates.
