"For me it was hard to find my place" - Former UAE Team Emirates rider on motivation to seek opportunities with another team
Cycling
UAE Team Emirates have a seemingly bottomless pit of talent in their hands but as it often happens; sometimes less is more. The logical consequence of overload of talented leaders (on long contracts) leads to inevitable and rumours of promising riders looking into ways out of their contract are stacking up (such as Juan Ayuso rumours after the Tour de France). That's not quite the case for Finn Fisher-Black whose contract had run out at the end of 2024 as he seeks more chances with his new team Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe.
"I think it just gets very populated, they're fortunate to have so much talent. It was hard to show that you were good enough to be there sometimes because everyone's trying to do their best and everyone has their own ambitions," Fisher-Black told Cyclingnews and The Cycling Podcast at Red Bull's December training camp.
"Some of these guys, like Ayuso, Del Toro, these guys coming through now, they're absolute superstars and they're going to achieve great things, I'm sure. But when you're not on that level of trajectory, it's hard to break through into the into the sole leadership roles of that team. For me, it was hard to kind of find my place."
Grand Tours
The 2024 was disappointing for Fisher-Black at times, in particular because of the limited opportunities to shine at biggest races for which he often wasn't even selected. "I was looking for some more opportunities and I missed out on a Grand Tour this year on UAE, so that was a big motive for me to realise that maybe it was time to leave. I want to find the most out of myself, and I think that's by doing the biggest races," explained Fisher-Black.
He recounts his first and last Grand Tour start where he even finished in second in one of the stages. "At the Vuelta in 2023 I kind of showed myself quite a bit, and that's where I started to feel like I was a bit more recognised in the World Tour by the public, but also just by my peers."
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- Jonas is doing P-N, very hard to imagine Matteo will get free hands. I don't understand why he doesn't do T-A that is happening at exactly the same time, and lead there. Or Swiss before the Tourvappaxbipmv14-01-2025
- That for almost everyone includes next season, only Roglic can win 3 consecutive GTs now because he won the last onevappaxbipmv14-01-2025
- maybe but i kinda doubt it. that’s basically the only life he’s ever known, right? was a celebrity athlete by the age ofof, what, 13 or 14? kid grew up with a microphone in his face. and while he’s not a wildly chatty, flamboyant interview subject (think sagan), he’s always genial and good natured. part of that is that he knows full well that he carries both alpecin and canyon on his back. while that burden is shared out more and more as things move forward, he has always seemed to accept responsibility for his considerable role in building those brands. as always though, who knows. he may not even fully understand why he hates the tour. if he does, i hope it’s something really weird! like he hates the way the french make hollandaise sauce and it just drives him INSANE the whole 3 weeks. “screw this, i’m DONE!” i guess he liked the hawaiian pizza he kept ordering at the giro.OCexile14-01-2025
- I beg to differ coz at that level, if you’re on his wheel, you’re basically getting a free lunch.Mistermaumau14-01-2025
- Yeah well, it’s not really his call, he has his wish and bucket list but there’s a pecking order too and I’m sure the Vuelta saga is still in Visma’s head. But he seems to be free for Paris-Nice so not quite as bad as you present. He can concentrate on preparing himself for a GT podium spot next year coz that’s still unlikely right now as all hands are on deck for Vinny’s revenge ;-)Mistermaumau14-01-2025
- Could it be that the Tour gets on his nerves for the commercial circus it becomes that no star can escape from, that it attracts a whole supplemental wholly different bunch of fans, “fans” and journalists that often lead exasperatingly embarrassing interviews for who knows who and that when you’ve been around and at the top so long, you just can’t be bothered with going through all that each day for a few cherries to pick when there are “purer” races for someone just interested in appropriate racing opportunities?Mistermaumau14-01-2025
- Yeah, I figured that but even then, there are still a few who won all three consecutively. Those in the know know but these guys are interviewed for the public at large and should make efforts to express things better, especially when you see the amount of text wasted to explain more obvious details like uphill finishes being difficult, wow ;-)Mistermaumau14-01-2025
- I’m sure Nairo is drooling right now, but this will also be a “make or break “ moment for him.JoeyB14-01-2025
- “jonas will not race the giro.” thank god.OCexile14-01-2025
- In the end it doesn't matter, if the guy at the front is doing 7,5w/kg it doesn't matter whether he's yours or from a rivalvappaxbipmv14-01-2025