Did Astana’s bizarre one-day haul of UCI points expose the sport’s biggest problem?

Although UAE Team Emirates–XRG have collected more UCI points so far in 2026, Astana moved into a strong second place after Wednesday’s racing, according to the new ranking. The Kazakh team, led by Alexandr Vinokourov, have totalled 2,417 points to date — and just under half of that came on Wednesday 11 February.

How did that happen? Well, Christian Scaroni completed a double at the Tour of Oman (2.Pro) by winning the final stage to Green Mountain and sealing overall victory at the same time. Teammate Cristián Rodríguez finished second on the stage and also second overall. Diego Ulissi did not feature among the very best on the final day, but still ended the race 11th on GC.

Scaroni picked up 275 points in Oman through his wins (250 for overall victory and 25 for the stage), while Rodríguez added another 185 (170+15). That alone meant a return of 490 UCI points on the final day of the Tour of Oman. And the other half? For that, we have to look to Asia.

The Asian Continental Championships took place this week: a race programme including a time trial and a road race for riders from Asian nations. With XDS Astana employing riders from China and Kazakhstan, it is no surprise they were strongly represented at the front. The road race results were telling: Yevgeniy Fedorov took the title, China’s Haoyu Su was second, and Nicolas Vinokourov finished fourth.

The UCI points return was enormous: 250 for Fedorov, 200 for Su, and 125 for Vinokourov — and the trio had already collected points earlier in the week in the time trial and the mixed relay. Add up the road race points alone and you get 1,065 points. Astana rider Henok Mulubrhan added three more points by finishing 31st overall at the Tour of Oman, bringing the total to 1,068.

1,068 points — from a 2.Pro stage race and a continental championship. On its own, that is not necessarily “wrong”, but it becomes uncomfortable when you compare it with the biggest races in the world. In the Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar earned 1,300 UCI points for overall victory, while Jonas Vingegaard received 1,040 for finishing second in Paris.

Of course, Pogačar and Vingegaard also score points via stage results — but the comparison is still striking. Vingegaard’s overall win at the Vuelta a España, for example, was worth 1,100 points: just 32 more than what Astana collected on 11 February. Dutch journalist Thijs Zonneveld summed it up bluntly on X: “This system is so broken.” And Michael Matthews recently launched a wide-ranging critique of the UCI points set-up as well.