Tadej Pogacar extends contract with UAE Emirates through 2026
Tadej Pogacar has extended his contract with Team UAE. The original contract of the 2020 Tour de France winner ran through 2024 but has been extended with another two seasons. Pogacar himself was happy with the news to stay with the team he started with in 2019..
“I feel at home in this team. There is a special atmosphere between the management, riders and staff and it’s a good environment to be in. The team shows a lot of trust and confidence in me which I am thankful for and I work hard to show that when I’m racing alongside my teammates. I hope we can have many more successful seasons together in the years ahead,” he states in the team’s press release.
Pogacar is only just 22 years of age but already stood on his first Grand Tour podium a few days shy of his 20th birthday. He went on to win the Tour de France at 21 years of age. In the most recent UAE Tour, an important race for the team’s sponsors, he showed his skills again. He was in the right echelon on day one, had a good time trial on day two and showed his climbing prowess on Jebel Hafeet and Jebel Jais. He went on to win the overall classification.
“Tadej is our present and our future,” team president Matar Al Yabhouni stated. “He is a rider who was able to win the Tour de France despite his young age and still managed to handle the pressure of such a great success. He showed great poise and determination to win the UAE Tour, a race that is growing year after year and which is of obvious importance to us. I am sure that we will continue to achieve important successes together going forward.”
Long term contracts are becoming more and more common, especially since team secure long-term funding more and more. Team UAE Emirates plans to build the team around Pogacar to aim for future Grand Tour successes. The Slovenian is now the only rider in the World Tour peloton with a contract for the year 2026.
UAE Emirates CEO Mauron Gianetti: “Tadej strongly believes in our project as we do in his abilities. It is already the third time we’ve extended his contract which shows his commitment to the project we are building here at UAE. We are creating a real group, united, with an atmosphere that I don’t remember in all my years in cycling. I am particularly proud of this.”
After winning the UAE Tour Pogacar rides Strade Bianche on Saturday and then builds towards the Tour de France via the Tirreno Adriatico, Tour of the Basque Country, the Ardennes Classics and the Criterium du Dauphiné.
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