Tadej Pogacar unsure how UAE Team Emirates and Juan Ayuso's plans fit with his: "Everybody has wishes but they don’t come true so easily"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar is likely to race the 2024 Tour de France in search of a third win. UAE Team Emirates and the sponsors are very keen on that plan, at least. However he will likely team up with both João Almeida but mainly Juan Ayuso who also has his own ambitions. There are questions on how they can all work together.
“I think he is growing up as a rider, as a person also. He has a super level, but the management need to decide for him what he is going to do, because everybody has wishes but they don’t come true so easily," Pogacar said of his teammate in an interview with GCN. Notably, it has been possible to see that since his first full pro season in 2022, Ayuso and Almeida have often raced with each other but not sacrificed each others' results for the other.
The team seeks UCI points as they focus a lot on getting the first place in the UCI rankings and it is also very likely that it guides the riders into racing individually. This was very clear during the 2022 Volta a Catalunya and this year's Vuelta a Espana as examples. Besides this search for points, Ayuso - a tremendously talented climber and stage-racer - is on his path and hunting his own results. The team will have to somehow make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together if they want to match Jumbo-Visma next summer.
However Pogacar doesn't seem too worried with that situation. He believes that having Ayuso race alongside him could be a benefit to the team, not the other way around. “Jumbo had three leaders in the Vuelta and they did pretty well," he argues. "Nowadays it is pretty good to have two leaders and a lot of teams go with that strategy, but it is always easier to have one rider to be in the front.”
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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.
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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)...
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
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El final de la carrera en línea del #MadridCriterium, prueba de exhibición celebrada este domingo, con @mathieuvdpoel (Alpecin) 1º, @JuanAyuso (UAE) 2º y @OmarFraile (Ineos) 3º, con Van der Poel, Ayuso y Verona como podio en la general. 📹 @Eurosport_ES
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