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UAE Team Emirates' only sprinter becomes 20th rider to win in 2024: "I’ve been looking for this win for a long time but things just didn’t click"
CyclingThursday, 03 October 2024 at 11:00
It is almost becoming an internal joke at this point with certainty within UAE Team Emirates. The Emirati team, besides the extraordinary success it has achieved throughout the 2024 season with the likes of Tadej Pogacar, has also seen most of it's riders take a win. This Wednesday at the Cro Race, Juan Sebastián Molano became the 20th team rider to take a stage win this year.
It actually comes as a surprise as in 2023 the Colombian won stages at the Vuelta a España, UAE Tour and Tour of Guangxi among others. Quality victories at World Tour level that, despite not cementing him at the very top of the sprinter ranks, had UAE trust him as the team's sole leader for the 2024 season. But this year things just did not fit into place and only in October did he manage to take his first triumph, which happened on the second stage of the Cro Race.
“I’m really happy to take this win, my first of the season, finally. I’ve been looking for this win for a long time but things just didn’t click," Molano said in a press release issued by the team. "I want to try and add to it now and give everything to get more wins on the board before the end of the year.”
The 29-year old managed to take advantage of a chaotic sprint to surf through the right wheels and be clearly the fastest in the dash to the finish line, beating Polti Kometa's Giovanni Lonardi. Molano hence took victory number 76 for the team this season and is the 20th rider to open up his tally in the year - out of a team of 30 riders.
Today in the third day of the race Molano has the opportunity to grow this number even further, in a stage that will finish in the town of Opatija.
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- First of all, I hope now all is ok with your baby!. Yeah, about to not accept foreign phone number is a big problem also for me. I have economic interests in 2 countries, I think that all can be ok with my Italian number... but NO! The world is globalized but not for bureaucracies.
maria2024202424-11-2024 - First of all, calm, this is a site to share point of views, doubts, intuitions about cycling. Let's think about it: if someone tells you that he is very tired but is going to run unimportant races immediately, ignoring a world championship much further away in time that would give him the opportunity to rest, there is something very contradictory. Maybe it is fair, but as a simple spectator I (and many others) do not understand it, it does not make sense.maria2024202424-11-2024
- I think the other side has said plenty, given comments about her reputation like what Renz said above. Perhaps this is her chance to speak up against that reputation? I have no idea but her comments seem pretty human, even if each person has their own version of the story.RidesHills24-11-2024
- Give her a team built around her with no competing leaders, like Pogacar has at UAE or Vingegaard has at Visma (seeing how Roglic left), and I wonder how Vollering would do. She’s already so good, and a team dedicated to her could make her even better.RidesHills24-11-2024
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- Poor Demi. But she behaves the same way when riding for the national team. Bring me my tiny violin.Renz24-11-2024
- good pointsmij24-11-2024
- Yes, please tell us based on your superior expertise about why JVs training and race schedule is wrong 🧐Crashjames24-11-2024
- I'd like to hear what the other side has to say.mij24-11-2024