UAE Team Emirates-XRG management have made it clear that, for the moment at least, there is no plan to change two of Tadej Pogačar's main goals in 2026 and that he will once again be aiming for a yellow jersey in July and a rainbow jersey in September.
"In principle, he's doing the Tour and the Worlds," team sports manager Joxean Fernández Matxin told MARCA.
"That's what is planned. Then we'll see what happens."
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Matxin's comments come shortly after it emerged that Patrick Evenepoel, the father of Remco, has said that he thought Pogačar wanted to do the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España in 2026.
"You always talk about Pogačar," Evenepoel senior told the Belgian podcast, ’On connaît nos classiques,’ "but I don't get the impression that he's going to do the Tour this year."
However, to judge by Matxin's words, Pogačar will not be missing out on a chance to clinch a record-equalling fifth win in the Tour de France next year. He will also be pushing to go toe-to-toe with the five riders who have currently taken three victories in the elite men's World Championships road race.
As for the UAE squad collectively in 2026, after taking a record number of victories in 2025 - 95 - with the record number of different riders - 20, one more than Mapei in 2000 - Matxin warned that they could not afford to sleep on their laurels next year.
"The result is excellent, but it could have been better. We've gone for big goals, acting responsibly and without relaxing. The goal was to improve and we've done that."
Himself a manager for many years, Matxin said that he had "never worked with such a great all-round group, one with so much humanity. There's respect, there's hunger [to win] and there's happiness. You can't buy that. It's what makes this team great."
However, he also warned that "when you've been the best team in the world, you realise that lots of people pick up on what you're doing. They know how you race, where you'll attack, what you're looking for.
"And that obliges you to go on evolving. There are more and more teams that understand how we work."
Regarding their star racer, though, Matxin pointed out that that kind of versatility came naturally to Pogačar because "he's got a capacity to reinvent himself and tackle each season differently. At the same time, he's been the best rider in the world for five years. He's a case apart."
As for the rider Pogačar tipped as "the future," Isaac del Toro's jaw-dropping total of 16 victories in 2026 shows that the young Mexican will broaden UAE's options in many races, Matxin said.
At the same time, despite the spectacular divorce proceedings that took place during the Vuelta a España between UAE and Juan Ayuso, he insisted that the team and the talented 22-year-old Spaniard still had a good relationship.
But in any case, rather than look at the riders who will no longer ride with UAE, the team are focussed on what they can do in 2026, Matxin told MARCA.
"When things go so well, the danger is you settle for only that," he argued. "That's why we're already building towards 20226. We want to keep growing. Winning is great, but it's how you win that matters the most. And our obligation is not to lose that passion."
