Until Thursday, the third-highest ranked team in men's bike racing this season had yet to win any WorldTour events in 2025 – but Lorenzo Fortunato has now proved at the Tour de Romandie that, yes, XDS-Astana can actually win at the highest level in their relegation-resisting rampage.
The 28-year-old Italian soloed clear of a strong breakaway group to close out an intriguing stage 2 with a victory ahead of Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) and Junior Lecerf (Lotto).
XDS-Astana entered the 2025 season with a huge deficit to make up if they wanted to claw their way into the sport's top 18 teams and thus secure their position in the WorldTour for the next cycle. For context, the UCI's current promotion/relegation framework gives WorldTour bids to the top 18 teams in the sport over a three-year cycle, meaning that top-division teams ranked lower than 18th get relegated and second-division teams within the top 18 get promoted.
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