“There are also unwritten rules that should be respected”: Movistar sports director slams UAE Team Emirates' suffocating tactics at the Tour de France

As the 2026 Tour de France reaches its decisive phase, Movistar Team sporting director José Joaquín Rojas has delivered one of the strongest public criticisms yet of Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates XRG. Speaking to the media during the first rest day, the former professional argued that the Slovenian's overwhelming superiority, and the way his team controls races, is reducing the excitement of cycling's biggest event.

With Pogacar leading Jonas Vingegaard by 3:36 in the general classification, Rojas believes the outcome is already beyond doubt. "We all think the Tour is more than decided. Pogacar is above everyone else and, on top of that, he has the strongest, most overwhelming team we've seen in recent years," Rojas said.

Rojas reserved his sharpest criticism for UAE's tactics during stage 9, when the Emirati squad controlled the breakaway despite none of the riders up the road posing any threat to Pogacar's yellow jersey.

"Many people will say that if they can't do anything, they'd rather stay at home. I respect their decision and their team's decision, but what happened yesterday made no sense."

According to the Movistar director, most of his colleagues in the team cars shared the same opinion. "I speak with 85 percent of the sports directors and they all think the same. From the final climb there were 23 kilometres of downhill to the finish, so it was difficult for Pogacar to win the stage. UAE could have put a rider in the break to fight for the victory, but they didn't."

While acknowledging that UAE are fully entitled to race however they choose, Rojas believes the team ignored some of the traditions of the sport. "UAE can do whatever they want because this is cycling, but there are also unwritten rules that should be respected. I don't know if it does cycling any favors. For me, it doesn't. The beauty of cycling is seeing riders fight for different objectives."

Movistar's own Tour ambitions were dealt a major blow in the opening days after Cian Uijtdebroeks was forced to abandon the race through illness. The 23-year-old Belgian had arrived in Barcelona targeting a top-10 finish overall, but problems quickly emerged after the opening team time trial.

"We came here hoping to fight for the top 10 with Cian. Already after the team time trial we could see something wasn't right. The second evening he developed a slight fever and the next day he had stomach problems. We made the difficult decision to send him home because it was the best thing for him."

Rojas revealed that Uijtdebroeks is still suffering from gastrointestinal issues but is expected to recover in time to lead Movistar at the Vuelta a España. In the meantime, the Spanish team has shifted its objectives toward stage hunting.

"Our goal now is to get into the breakaways and try to win a stage. That's what we've done so far. We've had riders in every breakaway, which shows we're trying. These guys deserve a victory because they've been fighting from start to finish."