“It is a team of nothing without Tadej Pogačar” - Dutch Eurosport Journalist delivers a brutal assessment of UAE Team Emirates’ team dynamics at Paris-Nice
CyclingWednesday, 13 March 2024 at 11:48
Having already won both races in his career, Tadej Pogačar decided not to compete at either Paris-Nice or Tirreno-Adriatico this season after his victory at Strade Bianche earlier in the month, as he continues his build up ahead of his attempt at winning both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France later this year.
In the Slovenian’s absence, Visma | Lease a Bike won both races with Matteo Jorgenson at Paris-Nice and Jonas Vingegaard at Tirreno-Adriatico. However, UAE Team Emirates still managed to achieve two podium finishes, with Juan Ayuso finishing second in Italy, whilst Brandon McNulty finished third in France, having led the race going into the final stage.
Despite achieving two strong results last week, Dutch commentator and journalist Jan Hermsen gave a brutal assessment of the team, with him being particularly critical of their performance at Paris-Nice. On Eurosport’s Kop over Kop podcast, Hermsen said “it is a team of nothing without Tadej Pogačar. They just don’t have a plan. They figure it out halfway through”.
After the team’s victory in the team time trial on stage 3, Hermsen was left confused as to who the team’s leader was supposed to be, as he said that “everyone thought Finn Fisher-Black took the yellow jersey including me. Then suddenly he is the leader. But Almeida is also somewhat of a leader. They then leave Felix Großschartner to ride Almeida back, while McNulty is in yellow. There is no way to tie a rope to it. Without Pogačar it’s just a mess”.
Having already lost time on the mountaintop finish to La Madone d’Utelle on the penultimate stage, McNulty lost the maillot jaune to his compatriot Jorgenson on the final stage around Nice, as he was dropped on the Côte de Peille with over 40km to go, but managed to limit his losses to hang on to a podium position in the overall standings.
In contrast to Hermsen, many would say that a stage victory, three days in the maillot jaune and third place overall is a success for UAE Team Emirates, considering that they did not have their strongest rider present and yet were able to remain in a competitive position throughout the race.
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Even the old Team Sky do these mistakes alot
Yes, I agree
But we , the fans, tend to comment without knowing all of the facts
For example, João Almeida was ill and that is why he didn't had his best performance at Paris-Nice
That is also the reason why he has fewer race days, as he missed Figuera Champions Classic and Volta ao Algarve
Regarding the rest of the team, given the very bad performance at the UAE Tour, by McNulty and Jay Vine, i think there wasn't a good option for the GC
Their decision making skills leave a lot to be desired. But these are not important races for them and considering it is the season opener, it is allowed to make mistakes.
I think Hermsen's being a bit harsh considering they got a stage & had yellow... that'd be a good year for Cofidis for instance
Yes a bit harsh but with truth. What the article omits to say is that best riders of other teams were spread thin.
You have to credit J-V, even half a team gets a good job done. Just watched their 2021 TdF doc where spectidiots causes Roglic and half the team to abandon forcing JV into a premature leader role with only 3 domestiques, 2 of which also had their own goals (but both undeniably supported him to the max.) and they still came out fighting.