INTERVIEW Joxean Matxín (Part 1) | How to win Milano-Sanremo with Pogacar and Tour de France warning: "Vingegaard is going to have that need, that anger, that extra motivation"

Joxean Fernández Matxín, Team Manager of UAE Team Emirates, recently renewed his contract with the UAE team until 2028. He is a key man in the structure of a team that swept its rivals in 2024. In an exclusive interview with CyclingUpToDate and CiclismoAlDia, he discussed Tadej Pogacar's rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard, how the team plans to win Milano-Sanremo, and much more!

Exclusively about Tadej Pogacar and his rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard. A year ago everyone assumed that the Dane was going to win the 2024 Tour de France after having 'swiped' the previous two from the Slovenian. Today, however, after Pogacar's historic season, there are very few who do not think he will win next year.

Matxín makes an interesting reflection on how the media and the fans react when a young and exciting cyclist wins a Tour de France with a certain amount of freedom.

"If we talk about this five years ago it seemed like the one who was going to win the five Tour in a row was Egan Bernal. He won Tadej and then it was uncertain if he was going to win the next one. After winning the second Tadej was next to win 6 Tour in a row. Then Vingegaard wins 2 and it looks like Vingegaard is the one who is going to win all 6 in a row. This means that every year can't be matched on anything, let alone injuries. In this sense, did it hurt Tadej in the Tour. Well yes because he couldn't prepare the same. Did it hurt Jonas? Yes, without any doubt, we have experienced it ourselves, although the injury was 15 days later in date, but the injury was more serious. Without wanting to equate injuries, it is clear that it has affected him without a doubt".

Warns about the danger of Danish....

"Were we angry when we didn't win the Tour and did we do things much better to win it? Yes, what's Jonas going to do? Clearly he is. We can't sleep, we can't settle, we can't get comfortable.... Vingegaard is going to have that need, that anger, that extra motivation to be able to get things done. No doubt about it. We are aware of that because we have experienced it first hand and we would like to do it differently, we would like to continue to control it and continue to dominate the Tour de France which is a very, very, very, very difficult race."

Matxín also talks about the calendar and what Tadej Pogacar would like to win, who is still very excited about continuing to achieve goals beyond his extraordinary 2024 campaign. The Spaniard doesn't reveal what exactly the Slovenian will race, and it seems that next season he could swap the Giro-Tour double for the Tour-Vuelta.

As for the classics, he will start the year trying again to win San Remo, one of his obsessions, and at the end of the season he will try to add another Lombardia. In between, it's hard to say at this stage. It doesn't look like it will be the year of Paris-Roubaix, although considering that he won't be racing the Giro, nothing can be ruled out. As we said, in any case, Matxín was cautious about it.

"All the races he hasn't won yet. Without any doubt and, obviously, the Tour de France for the repercussion and for what it represents. That said, repeating victory in races he's already won is putting his fist on the table and saying here I am and here I go in races I control. I think Tadej's motivation is so high and we're really looking for that: that racing a new race is motivation, that racing one he's already won is another kind of motivation, to leave the conquest flag where it is. That's the most important thing about Tadej, looking for those motivations, that everything is a challenge and that he has that mega-motivation and confidence to achieve things."

"Without any doubt, we have strategy. We have the calendar stipulated and what is the idea of who is going to race and how to race in Sanremo. Obviously we are not going to externalize it or communicate it."

"It depends. Many times it's not a question of what year to race it but of season planning. You have to keep in mind the main objective and go backwards. For example, if the Giro d'Italia and the Tour are part of the planning, you have to see which races are adapted to them. For example, this year with the Giro it didn't make much sense to go to Roubaix because it's too close and we were concentrating at altitude."

"Of course there is a Vuelta a España option. There is an option for everything. The calendar is clear, but we can't reveal it yet".