UAE Team Emirates-XRG have bolstered their Classics line-up with the signing of young Frenchman Pierre Gautherat from Decathlon CMA CGM.
Gautherat turned professional with the French team as a 19-year-old in 2023 and, after winning a stage of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque last year, claimed his first one-day win this year at Paris-Camembert.
More recently, he sprinted to two podiums at the Tour of Luxembourg, the first running Mathieu van der Poel close on a draggy finish.
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UAE Team Emirates-XRG are convinced of his potential for the future and have signed him on a three-year contract running through 2029.
"I’m very proud to be joining UAE Team Emirates-XRG. It’s a huge opportunity for me and an exciting new chapter in my career," Gautherat said in a team press release.
"I feel that this is the right environment for me to take another step forward, continue developing as a rider and challenge myself at the highest level. I’m especially motivated by the Classics and I want to keep progressing towards the biggest races and integrate into the squad.
"I’m really looking forward to joining the team, learning from the riders and staff around me and giving everything I can to contribute to the team’s success."
UAE Team Emirates-XRG describe Gautherat as "a powerful rider well suited to the demands of the northern Classics and tough one-day racing."
He got his first taste of the major Classics in his very first season at the age of 20 and the following year he was 11th in both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen. He has also finished runner-up at the Tro Bro Léon and Classique Dunkerque.
He "will add further depth to UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Classics group while continuing to develop his own ambitions in the biggest one-day races," say the team.
UAE's Classics quad and transfer activity
UAE Team Emirates-XRG already have a strong squad for the Spring Classics and Gautherat will largely be deployed as a domestique.
Florian Vermeersch and Nils Politt have led the line in the cobbled Classics in the past couple of years, with the likes of Tim Wellens, Antonio Morgado, and Benoît Cosnefroy hopping in and out. Tadej Pogačar usually drops in for the Tour of Flanders – which he has now won three times – and Paris-Roubaix, which remains a gap and an itch in his other-worldly palmarès.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG have not made any major signings so far ahead of 2027. On the incomings list, Gautherat joins Marco Frigo from NSN Cycling, Abel Balderstone from Caja Rural, and Davide Stella from the team's development arm.
Perhaps their more significant pieces of business have been to tie Pogačar and Isaac del Toro to new long-term contract extensions.
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