"What do I want? What Visma achieved" - Tadej Pogacar's UAE boss sets sights on historic Giro-Tour-Vuelta treble in 2027
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar has helped UAE Team Emirates - XRG rewrite cycling's record books, but one historic achievement still belongs exclusively to their biggest rivals.
Three years after Jumbo-Visma became the first team to win the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same season, UAE boss Joxean Matxin has admitted that matching the feat remains one of his greatest ambitions.
UAE collected 78 victories from 20 different riders in 2026, with Pogacar claiming his fifth Tour de France title. Yet when asked what he still wanted to achieve as a manager, Matxin's thoughts turned to the remarkable feat of their Dutch rivals.
"What do I want right now? I'm not going to lie to you. What Visma achieved: winning the Giro, Tour and Vuelta in the same year," he revealed in an interview with Eurosport.es.
Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss and Primoz Roglic on the Vuelta a Espana podium
Visma's historic achievement remains out of UAE's reach
In 2023, Jumbo-Visma became the first team to win all three Grand Tours in a single season, doing so with three different riders.
Primoz Roglic began the sequence by winning the Giro d'Italia, overturning Geraint Thomas's advantage in the penultimate-stage mountain time trial. Jonas Vingegaard followed with his second consecutive Tour de France victory, before Sepp Kuss completed the clean sweep at the Vuelta a Espana, where Vingegaard and Roglic joined him on the final podium.
In 2024, Pogacar became the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to complete the Giro-Tour double, winning both Grand Tours in commanding fashion. But UAE could not add the Vuelta, with Roglic taking the Spanish race for Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe.
A year later, UAE came agonisingly close to achieving the team treble themselves. Isaac del Toro wore the pink jersey deep into the Giro before losing out to Visma's Simon Yates on the penultimate mountain stage. Pogacar then secured his fourth Tour de France victory, while Joao Almeida finished runner-up to Vingegaard at the Vuelta.
UAE had a rider on the final podium of every Grand Tour in 2025, but Visma had beaten them to the overall victory in both Italy and Spain.
The pattern continued in 2026. Vingegaard added the Giro to his palmares, while Pogacar claimed his fifth Tour de France title, joining Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain on five overall victories. Del Toro reinforced UAE's strength by joining his teammate on the Paris podium in third.
Their hopes of adding the Vuelta suffered a devastating blow when Pogacar crashed out on stage eight. The Slovenian had already won three stages and built an advantage of three minutes and 50 seconds over his nearest challenger, Enric Mas, before suffering multiple injuries, including fractures to his collarbone and a cervical vertebra.
The crash required surgery and brought his season to a premature end. Mas eventually claimed the overall victory for Movistar.
"I think it's possible every year"
Asked whether UAE could finally match Visma in 2027, Matxin replied: "I hope so. I think it's possible every year, but for some reason it hasn't happened."
Crashes have been a particular problem for the team this season, with Matxin revealing that 18 of UAE's 30 riders suffered broken bones. "We've had 78 crashes," he said. "I think all those circumstances have made us stronger and pushed us to surpass ourselves."
Despite those disruptions, UAE finished 2026 with 78 victories, following their record-breaking tally of 97 the previous year. Pogacar also finally conquered Milano-Sanremo, ending a lengthy pursuit of one of the few major one-day races still missing from his palmares.
"I don't look back at what we've achieved. I look ahead to what we still have left to achieve," Matxin said, with a sixth Tour de France victory for Pogacar another of the targets he identified.
Read also
Could Del Toro play a leading role in UAE's 2027 ambitions?
UAE already have three proven Grand Tour podium finishers in Pogacar, Del Toro and Joao Almeida, giving Matxin considerable flexibility when planning their 2027 campaigns.
Del Toro finished second at the 2025 Giro and third at the 2026 Tour, while Almeida pushed Vingegaard throughout the 2025 Vuelta before finishing runner-up. Adam Yates offers further Grand Tour experience, and Matxin has also spoken of his belief that world champion Brandon McNulty is capable of achieving more in three-week races than his results have so far suggested.
Del Toro's possible leadership of UAE at the 2027 Giro d'Italia has already become a subject of discussion following the recent route presentation. When Eurosport asked Matxin directly whether the Mexican could lead the team in Italy next May, however, he offered no confirmation.
"Riders like Del Toro and Pogacar will be contenders for victory in any race they enter," he said. "What I can guarantee is that we'll build a balanced team and a season in which everyone gets their opportunities."
UAE are expected to announce Pogacar's programme during their traditional December training camp in Alicante. With the Slovenian pursuing a record-breaking sixth Tour title and Del Toro and Almeida both established as Grand Tour contenders, the allocation of leadership responsibilities across the Giro, Tour and Vuelta will be one of Matxin's most significant decisions ahead of 2027.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- maybe this is something else they can protest in the streets of France.mij04-11-2026
- his Roubaix win was amazing. not to take anything away from him - arguably one of MVDP's wins was at the expense of a WVA flat - but so many things need to line up to get one of these. He had a perfect race with fewer bike issues on an attritional course. And crazy strong as usual. Glad he got this done.mij04-11-2026
- Orts was a super smart signing with the new rules regarding cross and UCI pointsmij04-11-2026
- 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
Loading
Write a comment