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"

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.