"Every rider and every team would do the same in our situation" - UAE under criticism for controlling Tour de France, but its riders fire back
CyclingTuesday, 14 July 2026 at 16:00
UAE Team Emirates - XRG have come under criticism at the Tour de France, but not for the reasons they would've expected. The team has been dominating the mountainous and hilly stages thus far and have been criticized for their controlling behaviour. Florian Vermeersch, who has done a lot of this work, is baffled by the criticism.
Do UAE have to justify their level?
The Emirati team has won stages 2, 3 and 6 with Isaac del Toro and Tadej Pogacar, whilst carrying the yellow jersey into the second week of the race. But it was stage 9 that led to criticism, after the team worked throughout the day to control the breakaway - in the end unsuccessfully.
The sports director of Movistar José Joaquin Rojas said the following during the rest day: “What UAE did yesterday made no sense,” he said. “I speak to 85 per cent of the sports directors and they all think the same. UAE can do whatever it wants because this is cycling, but there are also unwritten rules that should be respected."
It is not clear what Rojas refers to as an unwritten rule, but the criticism follows the path of UAE not letting breakaways go up the road or chasing them down - But Rojas' Movistar is exclusively focusing on breakaways at the Tour de France, not having a sprinter and having lost Cian Uijtdebroeks as a GC option.
But for Florian Vermeersch, given the task of defending the yellow jersey and working for the team's interests, this criticism has no logic. The insinuation is that UAE should let other teams win through breakaways.
“I do not think we should have to justify the high level we are reaching. Or to put it another way, surely we cannot be expected to perform at a lower level just to make it all more exciting," Vermeersch argued in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws.
Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France
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UAE doing what they should, Vermeersch argued
During the spring, the Belgian rider has worked extensively for Pogacar and the team achieved a lot of success. His performances were so strong that he was inserted into the Tour's lineup, where together with Nils Politt, Tim Wellens and Felix Grosschartner, an effective work at controlling breakaways is being executed.
For this reason, social media has been flooded with accusations that the team is greedy and wants to win as much as possible. Vermeersch argues that this is a logic situation, and the same would've happened with any other rival team.
“What I find more difficult is the accusation that we are greedy and do not allow anyone else to have anything. Every rider and every team would do the same in our situation.”
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.
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