They are already sitting on top of the world, having amassed an astonishing 30 wins in four months, beginning with a stage victory in the Tour Down Under on January 17, by the team’s very impressive 20-year-old Mexican rider Isaac del Toro, and ending with victory in the Vuelta Asturias on April 28 by – Isaac del Toro. Another UAE rider, Rafal Majka, finished second in that race.
There were seven wins by Pogačar, five by Brandon McNulty and three each by Juan Ayuso, del Toro and another youngster, the 22-year-old New Zealand native Finn Fischer-Black. The team looks to be set for years of success, with a squad made up of talented young riders (Ayuso is only 21), strong veterans (Majka, Nils Pollit and Adam Yates), and many excellent riders just reaching their prime (McNulty, Marc Hirschi and Pavel Sivakov).
And, of course, there is their superstar, Pogačar, who seems unbeatable on his best day. UAE are so loaded with talent that even after Vingegaard and van Aert return to their best form, it seems unlikely that Visma can dominate as they did last year – if only due to the departure of Primož Roglič to BORA-hansgrohe.
In addition to Pogačar’s expected GC win, UAE are looking to grab a hatful of victories at the first Grand Tour of the year, the Giro d’Italia. They have included an accomplished sprinter on the squad, Juan Sebastian Molano, who has taken two stages of the Vuelta a España as well as registering numerous other victories on smaller stages.
So what can go wrong?
Well, as Mike Tyson said, everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face. When you plan a season around a single rider, lots of little things can go wrong, such as a bad day, an inopportune mechanical or a fever, and one big thing. Visma knows how the loss due to injury of a star rider can ruin a team’s best-laid plans. UAE and Pogačar are hopeful of no less than making history this year, if for no other reason than because Visma did last year. Fortunately, Pogačar is an excellent bike handler and rarely crashes – the mishap in last year’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in which he broke his wrist, was a rarity.
So the team and its superstar are understandably confident ahead of the Giro. In a statement on the team’s website announcing the Giro squad, Pogačar said, “The preparation for the Giro has gone really well. I haven’t raced too much so far this year, just 10 days, so I’m feeling fresh and ready to take on my first Giro. It’s a race I’ve dreamed of doing for a long time and it feels like now that the time is right to go for it.
“I raced in Italy a lot as an amateur and it has been an important country in my journey as a cyclist. For sure it is one of my favorite places to ride a bike and I also love the culture and of course the food. I hope we can make this month a special one. Obviously my aim is to go for the GC and we also have Molano for the sprints and a very solid team in general. We can’t wait to get it started.”
The team named to support Pogačar in the Giro is strong but it does not include several of UAE’s top riders, such as Yates, Ayuso and del Toro. But the 25-year-old Slovenian has little serious GC competition in the three-week race, so the top lieutenants are probably being saved for the Tour de France, where he will face Roglič, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick Step) and perhaps Vingegaard. Only then will we know how strong UAE Team Emirates really is.
