UAE Team Emirates have done a good job over the past few years to sign many of the world's best riders and world's best upcoming talents. However in the midst of all this, some riders lose freedom and leadership, and not everyone wants to remain in such spot. Marc Hirschi is certainly at the time, and will likely be joining Tudor Pro Cycling Team next season.
But Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, the other Swiss Pro Team, is also in the run. Created in 2023, with a certain base built out of the former Qhubeka team. It is a project that is aiming to score more UCI points, participate in Grand Tours and ultimately reach World Tour level and the signing of Hirschi could be an important step towards that goal. Hirschi joined UAE Team Emirates in 2021 after - like many other riders of the team - breaking his contract with the now named Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL.
A puncheur at the top of the world at the time, off the back of a Tour de France stage win and Flèche Wallonne, among other big results, he was originally a leader for UAE but slowly became a domestique. He couldn't ever obtain the same results as in DSM and became a key part of the team's UCI point search. In 2023 he did not race any Grand Tour and was given that role.
Despite lacking triumphs at World Tour level, he won the national championships and six non-World Tour events which saw him rise to the Top10 of the UCI points charts. This year he has shown good form, winning the Faun Drôme classic and finishing on the podium of Milano-Torino and Amstel Gold Race. His point scoring ability and nationality make him a perfect candidate to join the Swiss team which has it's priority in him. Het Laatste Nieuws reports already that there is an agreement, but this is not confirmed.
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