“We genuinely believed we could win the Red Jersey” – Matxin and UAE not content with seven Vuelta stage wins

Despite walking away from the 2025 Vuelta a Espana with seven stage victories — more than double that of any other team — UAE Team Emirates - XRG leave Spain with a lingering sense of unfinished business.

“It’s not bad at all, and we genuinely believed we could win the red jersey,” said UAE’s lead sports director, Joxean Matxin to Feltet.dk, moments after the final mountain stage atop the brutal Bola del Mundo. “Those are strong numbers — but yes, we’d have liked more.”

For much of the Vuelta, UAE dictated the tempo, shaped the mountain battles, and delivered consistent stage performances across the high mountains. Yet the team fell short of its ultimate objective: overall victory. Joao Almeida, their GC spearhead, finishes second on the final podium — a career-best in a Grand Tour, but still 1:16 adrift of an imperious Jonas Vingegaard.

Almeida lost critical time on the final slopes of Bola del Mundo, where Vingegaard delivered one last show of strength, riding clear in the final 1,500 metres. Despite a well-executed team plan, UAE simply didn’t have the legs to match Jumbo-Visma's leader when it mattered most. “I think we set the perfect pace for Joao,” Matxin reflected. “It was relentless. We kept going, believing in him and in our chance. We grabbed the race by the horns from the start. That was our last shot, and I’m incredibly proud of the lads and their attitude.”

Yet pride is tempered by frustration. UAE came to the Vuelta to win — not to settle. Matxin was frank in his assessment: “Jonas was simply stronger. He made the difference in the end. Joao didn’t have a great feeling in those final metres. The best man won the stage. But Joao gave it everything.”

With no top-tier sprinter in their Vuelta line-up, UAE’s chances of adding to their stage tally on the final day are slim. But even now, their seven wins put them well ahead of the competition — with no other team notching more than three.

Across the 2025 Grand Tour season, UAE Team Emirates close the year with an impressive 14 stage victories: two at the Giro d’Italia, five at the Tour de France, and seven here in Spain. Few squads can match that level of consistency across all three GTs.

But for a team of UAE’s stature — one that came armed with ambitions of painting Madrid red — the final result feels a touch underwhelming. They won the battles. They lost the war.