"5 riders can finish in the top-20" - UAE DS warns Giro d'Italia competition after dominant performance

It took us until the stage 7 to see a first UAE Team Emirates - XRG stage victory at the 2025 Giro d'Italia. The one to break this fasting was ultimately the team's leader Juan Ayuso who let no room for doubts on Tagliacozzo.

The Spaniard took the first victory of his professional career in a Grand Tour with a devastating attack with 500 meters to go. However the dominance of UAE Team Emirates - XRG was underlined thanks to another rider.

Isaac del Toro reached the finish line in 2nd position, moving up to the Top 3 overall, only 9 seconds behind Primoz Roglic, and 5 seconds behind his teammate Ayuso. Igor Arrieta did an incredible job on the final climb to Tagliacozzo, and Jay Vine was very active in the beginning of the stage. That's just Joxean Fernández Matxín's assessment.

"It was incredible because of the work of all the riders," Matxín began by pointing out in statements published by UAE itself. "Jay Vine fought hard for the breakaway, then Baroncini was perfect all day, Arrieta in the final 2km."

"They are five guys who can finish maybe among the top 20 riders in the general classification," Matxín added, warning all his rivals.

It's not crazy. If you take a look at the general classification, these are the current positions of the UAE riders after stage 7: