Joxean Fernández Matxín, manager of UAE Team Emirates, was ecstatic after Tadej Pogacar's victory in the fourth stage of the Tour de France 2024. He talked about his star rider following the victory on stage 4, but also about João Almeida and Juan Ayuso who had a misunderstanding on the Col du Galibier.
Speaking to Cadena Cope, he also made it clear that there was still a long way to go before he could celebrate too much, but that he was very satisfied that the team's plan had been carried out to perfection: "There's a lot left, it's the fourth stage, but it's true that we wanted to give a blow on the table in the first week. We kept the plan, it was changed based on the intelligence of the riders, Adam [Yates] when he said he didn't have a great feeling he started to pull first, I love it. Then Almeida and Ayuso decided to make shorter relays between them."
Regarding the latter, he wanted to make it clear that it was not an anger between João Almeida and Juan Ayuso, because we saw how the Portuguese at one point told the Spaniard to go forward, they simply decided to give shorter relays because of the strong headwind and thanks to that they reached the last kilometer of the Galibier and completely destroyed the GC group - also placing themselves well within the Top10 despite being on supporting roles.
"What happened is that since it was a headwind, it was better that they both relayed, it was better to save each other and go faster, it was a very smart decision. A rider like Adam Yates who was third, who was leader, who won a stage and Tour de Suisse that's a team concept," Matxin explained. "Riders like Ayuso and Almeida, who I've known since cadets, who I've known forever, to be honest from the beginning... I'm happy and proud of the people more than the professionals."
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