Marc Hirschi linked to UAE Team Emirates after Team DSM contract terminated

The mystery of where Tour de France stage and Flèche Wallonne winner Marc Hirschi would end up after Team DSM terminated his contract was quickly solved on Tuesday, with Wielerflits.nl reporting the Swiss rider will join Tour winner Tadej Pogačar at UAE Team Emirates.

Hirschi, 22, had a breakthrough season this year, narrowly missing two stage wins in the Tour de France before going on a solo breakaway on stage 12 to Sarran to claim his first WorldTour victory. He was awarded the overall most combative prize at the end of the Tour. 

He then went on to take the bronze medal at the World Championships, won La Flèche Wallonne over Benoit Cosnefroy and Michael Woods, and finished second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège to Primož Roglič after Julian Alaphilippe was relegated for irregular sprinting.

Team DSM announced on Tuesday that they had "reached a settlement agreement with their rider Marc Hirschi to terminate their present employment before the original end date of 31 December 2021".

Hirschi's premature departure follows other high-profile early exits from Tom Dumoulin, Michael Matthews, Warren Barguil and Marcel Kittel.

Cyclingnews reached out to UAE Team Emirates for a comment but they did not respond before publishing this story.