A golden statue of Tadej Pogačar was unveiled on Saturday in front of the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club in the UAE, as cycling's top team – UAE Team Emirates-XRG – celebrated another historic season.
The team's big stars, including World Champion Pogačar, were present in their home nation this past weekend to meet and ride out with fans, sponsors and the local cycling community, as part of their end-of-season celebrations at Al Hudayriat Island Circuit.
The statue shows the Slovenian during his bowing celebration, which he's brought out several times throughout his 103 career victories, notably at Cauterets-Cambasque, after beating Jonas Vingegaard on stage 6 of the 2023 Tour de France, atop Isola 2000 at the 2024 Tour, and after dominating a double ascent of Monte Grappa at the 2024 Giro d'Italia.
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Stage 6 of the 2023 Tour de France to Cauterets-Cambasque(Image credit: Getty Images)
Stage 20 of the 2024 Giro d'Italia to Bassano del Grappa(Image credit: Getty Images)
Stage 19 of the 2024 Tour de France to Isola 2000(Image credit: Getty Images)
Having joined UAE in 2019 and started his WorldTour career as a 21-year-old, Pogačar has developed into their outright leader, arguably the greatest cyclist of all time and an iconic figure in the Emirati nation's small but growing cycling scene, with more than 1,000 people coming out to meet him and his teammates at the weekend.
Riders have long been honoured with statues, from iconic Spanish climber Federico Bahamontes in Toledo, Nairo Quintana in Colombia, and Tom Boonen's legs on the Taaienberg, with Pogačar now joining them.
Now into the off-season, Pogačar will be looking to reset before he kicks on into another season of expected dominance in 2026, where he could match the record of five Tour de France victories held by the greats of Merckx, Hinault, Indurain and Anquetil and match Peter Sagan's World Championships hat-trick.
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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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