UAE boss Matxin weighs-in on 2027 Tour de France amid 'anti-Pogacar' route labels - “I think the organisers want to make sure the race isn’t decided on stage four"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar will take on the 2027 Tour de France with a historic target: to claim his sixth title and become the most successful rider in the race’s history. The route unveiled by the organisers already offers an early glimpse of the kind of Tour the Slovenian will face, although UAE Team Emirates XRG are reluctant to predict how the race will unfold.
Joxean Fernández Matxín, the Emirati team’s manager, gave his assessment of the organisers’ plans in an interview with Eurosport. He said he understood their intention to design stages that would prevent the general classification from being settled too early. He also discussed Pogacar’s potential rivals, including Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Isaac del Toro and the emerging Paul Seixas.
Looking at the 2027 route, Matxín believes the organisers want to prevent an early stage from creating decisive gaps in the general classification. The UAE manager cited the approach to a Tourmalet stage on the previous route and explained why adding a gentler climb after a major ascent does not always reduce the gaps.
“I think the organisers want to make sure the race isn’t decided on stage four. I understand their perspective,” he began.
Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are the stars of UAE and Visma.
A route designed to keep the Tour wide open
He then recalled how he interpreted a similar decision on the previous year’s route: “Last year, when they explained that they had designed the Tourmalet stage to stop the Tour de France from breaking apart, I saw it from a different angle.”
His reasoning is that a very steep climb followed by a much gentler one does not necessarily prevent significant gaps from opening up. “If you have a hard climb and then a climb at 3%, nobody is really going to drop anyone on that 3%. They’ll have been dropped earlier, and someone who loses half a minute at the finish will end up losing three.”
Matxín stressed that he was not trying to predict exactly what would happen in the race, but said he understood the organisers’ aim of keeping the battle for the yellow jersey unresolved for as long as possible.
“That’s my perspective. I’m not saying I can predict the future, because I can’t—not at all. If you ask me what might happen, I wouldn’t know what to tell you. But I do understand that the organisers want formats that keep the race open for as long as possible, right through to the end,” he said.
Paul Seixas is not Pogacar’s only rival
The prospect of Pogačar winning his sixth Tour also raises the question of who could become his main challengers. Paul Seixas’s emergence has broadened the debate over the general classification contenders, but Matxín believes it is too early to single out one rider as the Slovenian’s biggest rival.
“I would never name one rider as the main rival, because just as Seixas emerged this year, someone else could emerge,” he explained.
The UAE manager also pointed out that crashes can completely alter the plans of the top favourites. Jonas Vingegaard, Pogačar’s regular rival in recent years, was unable to maintain that status during the season after a crash. The Slovenian himself also suffered a crash that prevented him from winning the Vuelta a España.
“Jonas Vingegaard has been the usual rival, but he hasn’t been one this year because of a crash. And Tadej didn’t win the Vuelta a España because of another crash. These are circumstances that can change quickly in cycling,” he noted.
For that reason, Matxín believes it would be a mistake to focus exclusively on Seixas. The Frenchman has made a strong impression, but other riders also have the credentials to challenge the Slovenian.
“Last year, we were talking about Jonas as the rival, but now it’s been Remco Evenepoel. We shouldn’t rule out Remco or Jonas, and we obviously shouldn’t overlook Seixas, who has made such a brilliant breakthrough,” he said.
His conclusion is that the general classification battle should be viewed more broadly: “So I don’t think they should focus on just one rider, but on the overall group of contenders for the general classification.”
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An ever-growing group of rivals
The discussion also turned to whether the emergence of new contenders could motivate Pogačar to keep improving. Matxín recalled that a few years ago the debate focused much more on Jonas Vingegaard, whereas several riders can now enter the conversation as potential Tour challengers.
“I think that a few years ago, if you weren’t talking about how many rivals there were, you were probably talking about Jonas Vingegaard,” he reflected.
The picture has changed, and the list of contenders has grown considerably. Alongside Vingegaard and Evenepoel, the UAE manager specifically mentioned Isaac del Toro, Pogačar’s teammate at the Emirati squad, who has already reached the podium, as well as Paul Seixas, one of the biggest emerging talents on the international scene.
“Now we’re talking about Jonas, Remco, Isaac del Toro too, who has already been on the podium, Seixas and many other riders who mean the list of contenders is no longer closed,” he explained.
Matxín concluded by recalling that only two seasons ago, discussion of Pogačar’s rivals centred almost entirely on one name. With the 2027 Tour de France approaching, the list of riders to watch is now much longer.
The Slovenian’s pursuit of a historic sixth title will depend on many factors, from the route to the presence and form of his rivals. For now, UAE are reluctant to single out one leading challenger: Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Seixas and Del Toro are part of a group of contenders set to raise the bar.
Jorge BorregueroWriter
Jorge Borreguero is a journalist with a degree from the Complutense University of Madrid and has been a writer for Cyclinguptodate and Ciclismoaldia since early 2023. In this role, he has played a key part in the evolution of the website, particularly as a specialist covering Movistar Team. He regularly writes race reports, analytical pieces, and in-depth features about the team, and has conducted exclusive interviews and attended multiple team presentations, providing readers with firsthand insights into one of the leading professional cycling squads.
Throughout his career, Jorge has maintained a strong focus on sports journalism, gaining experience across a variety of disciplines, including basketball and football. However, his current work is almost entirely dedicated to cycling, contributing extensively to Ciclismoaldia and its sister website Cyclinguptodate. For these platforms, he combines thorough research with detailed reporting to deliver high-quality content, ranging from race previews and results to expert analysis of teams and riders.
Jorge’s reporting is marked by accuracy, depth, and a commitment to providing readers with reliable and authoritative information. His direct engagement with teams, athletes, and events ensures that his coverage reflects firsthand knowledge and professional insight. Through his work, he has established himself as a trusted voice in professional cycling journalism, bridging the gap between the sport and its global audience while maintaining rigorous editorial standards.
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- yeah... you're right...PogiSloFans04-11-2026
- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
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