Bombshell! Jhonatan Narváez set leave INEOS Grenadiers and join Tadej Pogacar at UAE Team Emirates
Cycling
The cycling market is red hot and at the Giro d'Italia, teams and agents are having active conversations regarding some of the best riders in the world. Jhonatan Narváez is set to leave INEOS Grenadiers and whilst Movistar have made their bid for the Ecuadorian star, it is now almost certain that he will join Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates.
The first maglia rosa of the 2024 Giro d'Italia, Jhonatan Narvaez, will not remain with INEOS Grenadiers next season. The talented Ecuadorian puncheur will leave the British squad to join the man he prevented from becoming leader on the first day of the Giro d'Italia, Tadej Pogacar, at UAE Team Emirates.
Jhonatan Narváez at the 2024 Giro d'Italia. @Sirotti
The man who looks set to represent Ecuador at the next Olympic Games in Paris has exploded this year proving to be a great classics secialist and showing impressive legs in this year's Giro d'Italia, in which he won the first stage and came close to winning a couple more (second in Fano on stage 12, for example, and a near-miss with a late attack on stage 9).
If this transfer is to happen, it will further boost what is already the strongest team in the sport. He is a great addition to the UAE classics team, either to support Tadej Pogacar or, as Nils Politt has been doing, to get results on his own. Moreover, as he is proving in this Giro, he is a rider capable of making a living in grand tours and winning stages, as well as being able to help his leaders with his strength on difficult terrain.
TRIUMPHS
Despite his quality, the Playón de San Francisco native has only accumulated 11 wins in his professional career, with his victories in this year's Giro and 2020 standing out above the rest.
Read also
Thus, he has been twice winner of the national road championship of Ecuador (he won it this year), has won a stage and the overall of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (2020), overall and 3 stages of the Tour of Austria 2023 and the road race of the Pan-american Games also last year. So, beyond the national championships, Narvaez has barely been able to win in 3 races throughout his already long career: Coppi e Bartali, Austria and the Giro. It is clear that now is the time to take a step forward.
So far he has only raced one Grand Tour other than the Giro, and that was the Vuelta a España in 2021, where he had to abandon the race prematurely.
Read also
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 2visitors 2
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
Loading
Info @Gazzetta_it - Sources confirmed us that there will be a change of team for @NarvaezJho - now with @INEOSGrenadiers - from 2025. The first pink jersey of @giroditalia 107 is set to join @TeamEmiratesUAE from next season @cycling_podcast
36 Comments