Pavel Sivakov eager to team-up with Tadej Pogacar: "He is the man in every race he starts. I will support him when I start with him"

Pavel Sivakov is making a change in his career, moving from INEOS Grenadiers into UAE Team Emirates for three seasons. He will be joining forces with Tadej Pogacar, and in a recent interview also discussed his upbringing within the French racing scene and what changed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"He is the man in every race he starts. I will support him when I start with him, and I'm looking forward to that," Sivakov said of Pogacar in words to the Cycling Podcast. He is aware that the Slovenian will virtually lead the team everywhere he sets to the start line, but Sivakov will continue to enjoy some freedom to chase results of his own he reveals as his schedule takes shape: "But I also get opportunities myself, we have already talked about that. In races such as the Tour of Valencia and Paris-Nice, I will probably take my own chances. I could have been the absolute leader in other teams, but the level here is high and everyone gets their chances."

This hints that Pogacar will not return to Paris-Nice, after having won it this season. As a rider who hasn't proven himself in the Grand Tours, but has proven himself as a superb climber, he may take on a role similar to that of Jay Vine in the Emirati structure. The team fiercely chases UCI points, so he may end up finding more opportunities than he even had at INEOS. This will depend on his form however, which is often inconsistent. The Frenchman found his best legs towards the end of the season however, riding to second at the GP de Montréal and winning the Giro della Toscana.

In the interview he recalls also his start in cycling. Quite interestingly, Sivakov was a Russian rider, who was born in Italy, but lived in and spoke French. However not having French nationality was an obstacle for him in the youth ranks he tells. "When I started cycling better, I rode regional competitions. And once I experienced that I won a competition, but that I was not 'allowed' to win because I was not French. Then that victory was taken away from me," he shares.

"In that respect, I would have been better off taking French nationality earlier, in retrospect. I just wanted to compete internationally. Then I had to participate in national competitions to qualify." Ultimately he got a French citizenship following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which continues to this day. He raced with the Russian as recently as the Tokyo Olympics for example, but at the time shared that it made little difference since he had already spent most of his life living in France. 

Russian and Belarusian athletes and teams were dealing with the consequences the UCI put in place after the invasion, but the 26-year old - who does not support it - tells that he did not encounter any issues or debates with teammates because of it. "It didn't change much for me, I didn't change as a person and how people looked at me stayed the same. I liked that. It's about your person and not your nationality. I am now French on paper, but that is actually how I already felt."