Training UAE Team Emirates crushed the competition in 2024. Led by a Tadej Pogacarwho had one of the greatest seasons in history, winning Liège-Bastogne-Liègethe Tour of Italythe Tour de FranceTHE Worlds and the Tour of Lombardythe team led by Mauro Gianetti logically finished first in the UCI rankings. An overwhelming domination concluded with a staggering total of 81 victories. But in 2023, the Jumbo-Visma of Primoz Roglic and of Jonas Vingegaard had had a sublime year, winning the three Grand Tours with three different riders, a real feat. UAE Team Emirates 2024 or Jumbo-Visma 2023, which team had the best year?
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Jumbo-Visma… A more complete workforce
In order to compare the two teams, we must already compare the riders. The 2024 training season UAE Team Emirates was widely supported by Tadej Pogacarwho has achieved 23 of his team's 41 WorldTour successes in the toughest stage races and classics on the calendar. The other successes in WT were also won in stage races, with many victories in times (McNulty, Wellens, Almeida) and on the mountain stages (Yates, Almeida, Ayuso). However on the cobbled classics (Pollit, Wellens) and mass arrivals (cool), UAE Team Emirates failed to prevail. The results are not bad for the classics (3rd in Ronde4e de Paris-Roubaix), but Emirati training is almost non-existent in WT level sprints.
The Jumbo-Vismashe could count on Wout Van Aert, Christophe Laporte or even Dylan Van Baarle on the classics. And even if the Dutch team did not win on the Tour of Flanders (4e, Van Aert beaten) and Paris-Roubaix (3rd, puncture in the Tree Crossroads), she had dominated all the preparatory races by winning theOmloop Het Nieuwsblad, l’E3 Saxo Classic, Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, Gand-Wevelgem et Across Flanders. In the massive arrivals, Olav Kooij shone, winning 4 WorldTour successes without making a Grand Tour. There Jumbo-Visma also dominated the stage races with Jonas Vingegaard et Primoz Roglicthen with Sepp kiss on The Return. Both teams were able to count on dominant leaders during the stage races, but the Jumbo 2023 seemed to be able to play on more courts thanUAE in 2024.
Statistically, UAE advantage
On an accounting level, training UAE Team Emirates is better than Jumbo-Visma. The training of Tadej Pogacar won 37,979 UCI points in 2024 compared to 29,651 for Jumbo-Visma in 2023, which had already been beaten in the UCI rankings. The Slovenian alone weighs 11,000 points, more than the Movistar over a year. But this difference is also explained by the number of victories acquired. The training of Mauro Gianetti counts 81 victories in 2024, compared to 69 for the Jumbo-Visma in 2023.
And at Jumbo-Visma seemed to have a more complete squad in 2023, and thatUAE depends a lot on Tadej Pogacarthe number of different riders having won during the season is higher at UAE Team Emirates. There are 19 of them to have raised their arms this year, and it has been very common for the best formation in 2024 to start the race with 2-3 or even 4 leaders. At the house of Jumbo-Visma in 2023, 14 different riders won and the hornets often bet on the same riders.
Which team will leave the biggest mark?
If we can judge a team, an athlete, an achievement, whatever the sport… it is with the mark it leaves behind. And this team Jumbo-Visma achieved a historic hat-trick, never done in the history of Cycling, with these 3 Grand Tours won with 3 different riders, all on the podium of The Returnsymbol of the absolute domination of the Yellows and Blacks over the general rankings in 2023. This hat-trick will go down in the history of cycling as something unique, striking, and collective.
Where the Jumbo-Visma won the 3 Grand Tours with 3 different riders, UAE Team Emirates 2024 appears more like “Tadej Pogacar’s team”. Because even if Tadej Pogacar has teammates capable of being leaders in half of the WorldTour teams (Yates, Almeida, Ayuso…), in fact, he doesn't really use it. On the classics, he leaves when he wants, despite the presence of his teammates. And this year, on the Grand Tours, he was so much superior than the collective ofUAE didn't seem that important. In short, the year 2024 will be remembered as that of Tadej Pogacar and not that ofUAE Team Emirates as the Slovenian dominated, where the year 2023 was that of the Dutch team.
