Author of an extraordinary season, Tadej Pogacar should not slow down in 2025, according to Cyril Guimard. And this also applies to his team, Team UAE-Emirates, whose domination does not surprise him.
Twenty-five victories, including the Tour de France, the Tour of Italy and the World Championships – enough to allow him to join Eddy Merckx and Stephen Roche in the history of Cycling -, or even two Monuments – Liège-Bastone- Liège and the Tour of Lombardy: Tadej Pogacar delivered an exceptional season. And for Cyril Guimard, this is what we should remember about 2024.
“Tadej Pogacar dominated this season from start to finish, with absolutely extraordinary mastery,”
he confided to Cylism'Actu. And in its wake, the entire UAE-Emirates Team shone, stringing together bouquets with no less than 81 victories, including 41 in World Tour races. Nothing could be more normal in the eyes of the former sports director of Bernard Hinault or Laurent Fignon.
“It is not abnormal that UAE continues to dominate”
“When the leader flutters, the teammates flutter. When you have a great leader, you have great teammates. These same teammates in another team without a great leader, take away 20% from you. Collective motivation is something extraordinary,” he explained, adding: “I was lucky enough to experience these kinds of episodes, go back to the 1984 Tour de France and you will understand what I mean, we still won 10 stages, finishing 1 and 3 in the general classification.”
And for Cyril Guimard, the domination of the Emirates team and its leader should not end in 2025 unless there is an accident. “It is not abnormal that UAE continues to dominate in this way,” he warned, adding: “When there is this euphoria of victory, it’s winning, it’s logical, it’s normal. And it’s all the more logical since it’s the team with the biggest budget and which consequently has the best riders, the best young people…”
France
Cycling
