The emergence of Tadej Pogačarhis successes and the winning inertia of the UAE Team Emirates force a fine line to be drawn on every name that is valued to be acquired in the market. The team's signings for next year to meet the size of the challenge the size of the challenge that lies ahead.
As 365 days ago, there are many fronts facing one of the best teams in the world, in a calendar that is demanding from the first to the last race.
There is something at stake in every race and, as the Sport Manager of the UAE Team Emirates, Joxean Fernández MatxinMatxin: "Whenever we put on a bib, we always like to go out to win". A slogan that does not neglect the main objective of this and any team in his situation, defender the Tour crownbut also wants to guarantee opportunities for everyone.
Keep an eye on Marc Soler's progress
That's why we start with Marc Soler, a rider on whom many eyes have been focused for a long time, given his quality and presence in big races, but who runs with the feeling that his moment to explode is definitely being delayed.
Matxin told us some time ago about Marc Soler that "I know him perfectly, he's a cyclist with character and I love that.". That energy and that desire to shine and to explode are definitely a mine of opportunities for the coach to get the best out of the rider. It's difficult to think that he can't help in the Tour, but it also looks like he could be the leader in a grand tour, perhaps the Vuelta a España in which he does well.
João Almeida and George Bennett, youth and experience
On an upward trajectory, each year a little better than the last, João Almeida lands in the UAE Team Emirates with a similar role to Marc Soler, because if the Portuguese can be of great help to a leader as Pogačar, he can also have his own sporting space and goals.
In his case Matxin admitted that “I have known him since he was a youth. I helped him sign him and he has played for several teams. Now he was released from his contract and we want him with us". Unlike Marc Soler, Almeida has proven himself strong in the Giro d'Italiain which he has been among the best in the last two editions.
In the case of George Bennett the UAE Team Emirates a good dose of wisdom on the road. The New Zealander is one of the most experienced riders in the peloton. who has been a member of powerful teams, such as the one that accompanied Primož Roglič in the 2020 Tour, knowing the business inside out.
His will be a job already known in another important rider in the team. "George comes with the same instructions that we conveyed to Majka, that is, with the mentality that he comes to add for the team and Tadej Pogačar's achievement of triumphs." Matxin assured.
Watch out for the sprinters of the UAE Team Emirates
The line that the team is especially reinforcing for next year is the sprint line. In addition to an already established team, that of Sebastián Molano and Fernando Gaviria, the UAE Team Emirates team will be making a shock within the group of fast men with the arrival of the powerful German sprinter, Pascal Ackermann, and the also Colombian Álvaro José Hodeg.
Both come to add to an aspect in which the team needs to boost its results.
To the aforementioned we add an experienced Frenchman on the northern routes, Alexys Brunel, born near Calais, i.e. close to the roads that will see the cobblestone day of the next Tour. Brunel is a meter ninety by seventy kilos, a perfect prototype of today's cyclist, long and thin, one of those who test the best Gobik patterns.
The chapter of additions closes, Felix Groß, a German sprinter who is sure to bring pace and kilometers to the UAE Team Emirates train, which has already departed for a new season full of challenges.
