UAE Team Emirates general manager Mauro Gianetti has told L’Equipe that the ongoing uncertainty regarding Tadej Pogačar’s current condition means that Adam Yates will be the team’s co-leader for the Tour de France.
Pogačar is set to fight for a third Tour de France win this July following his defeat in the 2022 race by Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma). But after crashing and fracturing his wrist in Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the end of April, Pogačar’s build-up to the Tour has been affected.
Gianetti said in an interview with L'Équipe that while UAE's Tour team was the strongest “on paper” they had brought to the race, Pogačar was perhaps not yet at top form following his crash. As a result, Yates, second overall at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, would also enjoy protected rider status.
“Adam will not just be there to support Tadej, he will be our co-leader this summer,” Gianetti said.
“We really don’t have the choice. Tadej spent five weeks without being able to train on the road. There are no miracles in cycling. You have to get the miles in.
“He has worked hard, we have a lot of faith in him, but we’re not certain of anything.
“He won Slovenian Nationals [both road and time trial - ed.] and they were won in fine style. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be 100 percent ready come Saturday.”
Yates finished ninth overall last year in the Tour despite working in a support role for Geraint Thomas, and he led the race for four days in 2020. His best GC finish came in 2016, when he claimed fourth overall and the white jersey of best young rider. This year, Yates won the Tour de Romandie as well as finishing second overall in the Critérium du Dauphiné behind Vingegaard.
Gianetti explained to L’Équipe that while Pogačar’s recovery process had gone well, his wrist still wasn’t fully recovered.
“The injury isn’t completely behind him. We have to be careful because his preparation has been curtailed. A month ago we still weren’t sure of anything.”
“If we look at the glass being half full, we can say he’ll be coming into the Tour a lot fresher. But the opposition this year is very deep.”
Gianetti explained that the team had wanted to include Tim Wellens in the line-up but having broken his collarbone in April, the screws that held the fractured bones back in place had shattered and he had needed another operation.
Even so, he told L’Équipe, having rebooted the team in 2017, the global lineup he now had in place was “not the perfect one, but we’re getting there. Our choices have always been made very carefully.”
“We never wanted just to sign names, but to concentrate on bringing forward young riders like Joao [Almeida], Juan [Ayuso], Marc [Hirschi], Mikkel [Bjerg], creating an international team that looked to the future.”
“Tadej has sped up that process, and we needed to speed up that process, capable of giving us more immediate support so we signed riders like Adam and Tim Wellens.”
“Our efforts have permitted us to attain the kind of stability and level we’ve been working towards for the last seven years, but we’re still looking to the future.”
