“They brought me to the team to win, not set tempo on a Tour climb for Tadej Pogacar” – Benoît Cosnefroy won’t be content as second-fiddle at UAE

Benoît Cosnefroy’s move to UAE Team Emirates - XRG is not built around patience, hierarchy or waiting his turn. From the outset, the French puncheur is making it clear that he did not join the sport’s most powerful squad to disappear into a domestique role.

Instead, Cosnefroy sees his transfer as an opportunity to do something very specific: win races that matter to him, on terrain that suits him, with a level of freedom he believes he would not have found elsewhere.

Speaking to Sporza, the 30-year-old outlined a vision that sits deliberately outside UAE’s Grand Tour machinery.

“They brought me to the team to win second-tier races, not to set tempo on a Tour climb for Tadej Pogacar,” Cosnefroy said, addressing the assumption that every rider at UAE exists primarily to serve its superstar leader.

After eight seasons with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, Cosnefroy’s decision to leave France surprised much of the peloton. It surprised him too.

“Even I didn’t see this transfer coming,” he admitted. Interest from UAE had been there for some time, but Cosnefroy stressed that interest alone means little at a team where competition for contracts is relentless. Many riders want to wear the UAE colours, and only a handful are given the chance.

What ultimately pushed the move through was clarity. Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale informed him early in the season that he would not be offered a new contract, explaining honestly that he no longer fitted into their future plans. Rather than resist the decision, Cosnefroy embraced the moment.

“I felt that I needed a different environment,” he said. “It was the right time to leave.”

At first glance, UAE Team Emirates does not look like a natural destination for a rider seeking autonomy. The presence of Tadej Pogacar shapes everything from race programmes to media narratives. Cosnefroy understands that perception, but insists it does not reflect his reality.

“It might sound strange, because everyone thinks that at UAE you ride for Tadej,” he said. “But I will hardly ever be riding alongside him.”

Instead, Cosnefroy has been recruited to target races where UAE has traditionally shown little interest. The team is even set to line up at French one-day races it has never previously contested, a shift Cosnefroy believes is closely linked to his palmares.

“UAE will ride the GP du Morbihan for the first time,” he noted, pointing out that it is a race he has already won three times.

Alongside that, he will be given his own chances in races such as the Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallonne, events that suit his punchy profile and racing instincts.

Perhaps most striking is Cosnefroy’s indifference towards Grand Tours, a stance that runs counter to the ambitions of many riders his age.

“There is no place for me in the Grand Tour system, and that doesn’t bother me,” he said. While he acknowledged that young riders often dream of racing three-week events, he was blunt about where his enjoyment lies.

“A Grand Tour takes three months out of your season,” Cosnefroy explained. “A month to prepare, a month to race, and a month to recover. In those three months, I would much rather race other events and try to win one of them.”

That mindset underpins his move to UAE. Success, for Cosnefroy, is no longer measured by proximity to cycling’s biggest races, but by the ability to race aggressively and convert opportunities into victories.

Cosnefroy’s comments underline a broader truth about UAE Team Emirates. For all its Grand Tour dominance, the team is increasingly structured to allow specialist riders to pursue personal objectives away from the main spotlight.

Cosnefroy has no issue with Pogacar’s central status, nor with the hierarchy that comes with it. He simply has no interest in being defined by it.

His transfer is not about becoming part of a winning machine. It is about using that machine to keep winning on his own terms.

If that means skipping Tour de France mountain trains in favour of French one-day races and selective classics, Cosnefroy is more than comfortable with the trade-off.