When we talk about the Tour de France
cycling squares up. It is the "Race".with capital letters, the event where everything is magnified, the good, the bad, where the best go with the best at its peak, where history is made and contracts are renewed, where all eyes are focused. The place where UAE Team Emirates goes to defender its crown.
And so it will be starting this Saturday, June 26thThe stars of the peloton will be on their way to Paris in the Brittany countryside. Behind them, in the caravan of cars, Joxean Fernández Matxin will be part of the technical team guiding the fortunes of UAE Team Emirates.the team that will support Tadej Pogačar in the renewal of his Tour triumph.
"We are going with the idea of proving that last year was not a one-day flower. We want to stay at the top and compete according to the expectations generated. Of course, always with the utmost respect for the rivals, the same respect we want to receive ourselves." says Matxin.
Ahead of these three weeks of competition in which Gobik will debut wearing Tadej Pogačar and his teammates in all kinds of circumstances and altitudes. A challenge that this time includes a good dose of time trials, unheard of in recent times, with a first passage through the Alps and a second through the Pyrenees, on paper harder and decisive.
"It looks like a less demanding Tour in the mountains that boosts the time trials, but these, for example, do not include the time trial variant of last year, so they can make less of a difference. In the end the route is what it is, whether you like it more or less doesn't change things, we have a huge challenge ahead of us." continues the Biscayan technician.
The eyes on Tadej Pogačar
"What can I tell you about Tadej's campaign? -He's been excellent, he hasn't lacked anything. He has gone to UAE Tour and won, then Tirreno, also Slovenia and a classic like Liege. He didn't win Itzuliabut he was loyal to his teammate and he wanted to defender his leadership. In the end it wasn't possible, but it's still an excellent result.
We know that everyone is looking at him," he continues, "but it can't be any other way, he's a rider who provides such brutal guarantees that everyone ends up looking at him. He's a simple guy, who likes to share victories among his teammates and who handles the pressure well.".
And so well, Tadej Pogačar is one of the great stars of world cycling.but also of the sport in its extension, a celebrity in his country and will be the most sought after before and after the race, as well as the most watched by his rivals, rivals among which are included a few, although the theory says that his compatriot Primož Roglič should be the main one: "There is tremendous respect between the two of us, a respect that goes beyond the sporting. We don't think we're the navel of the world because we won a year ago, everyone here has come to compete.".
Pogačar's colleagues
The backbone of UAE Team Emirates for the 2021 Tour has been more or less decided since the beginning of the season and we went over some names with Matxin.
With the aim of having a luxury assistant, close in the most complicated moments of the race, the Polish Rafal Majka was signed.He's a cyclist with a great track record in grand tours, he even finished on the podium in the Vuelta. He was brought in with the idea of being with Tadej in the important moments".
Continuing with David de la CruzThe Catalan has a great endorsement in last year's final week, in a Tour that ended after a very hard crash in the early stages. David earned our respect and admiration in last year's Tour," he said. -recalls Matxin-. when he fell at the start, with a crack in the sacrum, but but he knew how to suffer, make the best of it and be ahead with Tadej at the end"..
Tour debutant, Brandon McNulty He has a special feeling with Tadej, as we saw in the same race. Itzulia. He has a huge talent and I'm sure he will have good options in the future.
And we finish by Marc Hirschi, the star signing from whom we expect to see those wonders of last year. "It's true that he had some physical problems at the beginning of the year, but I've known this rider since he was a junior, and he has immense talent," concludes Matxin, busy, as it could not be otherwise, in the hours leading up to the 2021 Tour de France, the first of Gobik with UAE Team Emirates.
PhotosBettiniPhoto / Fizza Photo
