Tadej Pogacar has had a season that was hard to imagine for any rider in the sport's history this year, can he improve? Perhaps the answer is yes, perhaps not, but we do know from within UAE Team Emirates that he is certainly aiming to have at least one new race in his palmarès in 2025.
“These are exceptional results that have gone beyond expectations. The main goals were the Giro and the Tour with Tadej, but we had 20 out of 30 riders who won this year, and this is another record. It shows that we are working well and we have excellent riders," Fabio Baldato said in an interview with InBici. “...It is essential to know how to give goals to all the riders, not only to go fast but with the ambition to win. There are many races and so if well planned and organized there is room for everything”.
Baldato followed the team at the Giro d'Italia and helped Tadej Pogacar towards the first pink jersey of his career. That was a year highlight for the experienced Italian: “The Giro d’Italia with Tadej’s victory. The Perugia time trial was magnificent and I can say that I was lucky enough to be at his side in this undertaking. It was a magnificent feeling, an inexplicable adrenaline rush, I relived the emotions and sensations of when I was a rider”.
After a month without racing, the team was able to regather itself, have a small camp in the UAE where the new teammates including Jhonatan Narváez and Florian Vermeersch were presented, and the planning has begun for the 2025 season. In Benidorm, the team will gather over 10 days in December to organize a lot of goals, calendars and much more.
“We will have a training camp from December 10th to 20th in Spain and then start with the Down Under in Australia. It is a race that I have done several times and I am always happy to return," he admits. On Tadej Pogacar's calendar decisions most is known, but Baldato hints as well for a greater likelihood of a return to the Vuelta a España instead of the Giro d'Italia (besides of course, the Tour de France).
“He won the Giro, the Tour too, he still needs to win the Vuelta so, knowing his great ambitions, I see him closer to the Spanish race, but we will define all the programs in December in training camp like every year. The wait for the presentation does not change much for the riders, but it changes more for us to better define the team”.
It's hard to improve on the 2024 season, Baldato eyes a more realistic goal of simply trying to match such a storming season. “The goal will be to repeat ourselves. The Tour will remain a main goal as well as the Great Classics. Tadej wants the Sanremo more than anything and we will try to put him in the condition to run it at his best, even if it is the most difficult race for him," he adds interestingly.
"It is a fast and technical race and you find yourself fighting with fast rouleurs, so it is a different race compared to what are his main characteristics, but it is also true that when Tadej sets his mind on a goal he manages to reach it. I am lucky to be in a team of many young talents and so we will try to make the whole group grow, to make as many riders as possible win as we did this year”.
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No better way to round off our record-breaking 2024 season than with our #WeAreUAE Community Ride-Along in Abu Dhabi!🇦🇪🏆
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) November 6, 2024
Thank you to all of our partners and the entire cycling community for coming to celebrate with us🙌🏼
See you in 2025🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/xeLmi3okFn
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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