UAE Team Emirates-XRG Team Manager Mauro Gianetti again watched in admiration as Tadej Pogačar won Strade Bianche for a fourth time.
Gianetti is often the first to hug and congratulate Pogačar beyond the finish line of major races. He signed the Slovenian as a teenager and helped him develop into the dominant force that he is today, yet he still becomes emotional when he wins big.
There were some doubts about Pogačar's form on his 2026 season debut after a long winter of training but Gianetti was reassured by Pogačar's training data and ambition.
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"We knew he was strong and on form because we can see the training data and power," Gianetti told Cyclingnews. "But then the race is the race, and even Tadej has still got to go and win, even if he makes it look easy sometimes."
Gianetti let slip what Pogačar's rivals never want to hear.
"Tadej is stronger than ever, he's still improving," Gianetti said. "Every rider improves year on year, they have to, otherwise they eventually fall behind. Fortunately, Tadej keeps on surprising us.
Gianetti has his critics but he is always generous with his praise and support for every rider in the peloton. He praised Isaac del Toro for his third place and stopper role behind Pogačar but also praised Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) on his attempt to go with Pogačar on the gravel with 80km to race.
"Isaac was strong but people seem to forget that he is number two in the world, he's the next best after Tadej," Gianetti pointed out.
"We all expected Tadej to do what he has done so often and we know that Isaac is strong too but Paul Seixas was incredible, he's perhaps the surprise at this year's Strade Bianche. He's only 19 and we can imagine what he will do in the future…"
Pogačar and Seixas will now take a break, while Del Toro leads UAE Team Emirates-XRG at Tirreno-Adriatico. Seixas will next race at Itzulia Basque Country, while Pogačar will head home to Montecarlo to prepare for Milan-San Remo, his next Classic goal of the 2026 spring.
Pogačar has still to win the La Classicissima and Gianetti will spend the next two weeks trying to build the strongest possible team to help launch an expected attack on the Cipressa climb and then the Poggio.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG are a dominant force in the men's WorldTour and could take 100 wins during the season. However, Tim Wellens is out of action after a crash at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Jhonatan Narváez fractured a vertebrae at the Tour Down Under.
"We've got 12 riders out of action due to crashes and injuries," Gianetti revealed to Cyclingnews.
"Seven from the WorldTour team and the others from the development team. It's not easy to deal with, even for us, but that's part of cycling.
"We've got two weeks to prepare for Milan-San Remo in the hope of seeing Tadej win yet again."
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