António Morgado joins João Almeida and the Oliveira twins at UAE Emirates. First stage starts on Sunday in southern Spain
Four Portuguese riders are part of the 2024 squad of WorldTeam UAE Emirates, a team from the United Arab Emirates that competes in the top tier of world cycling and ranked first in the respective International Cycling Union (UCI) rankings last season.
In addition to João Almeida, one of the leaders of the formation, since 2022 the group that includes cycling star Tadej Pogacar, also number one in the UCI hierarchy, three more Portuguese riders are part of the UAE Emirates squad, the twins Ivo and Rui Oliveira, on the team since 2019, and the recently signed 19-year-old António Morgado, runner-up in the under-23 world champion (Glasgow 2023).
The Portuguese quartet and the remaining 26 teammates will focus on the first pre-season training camp, in Alicante, southern Spain, between the 10th (next Sunday) and 21st of December, where the team will speak at a press conference on the 18th.
The 2024 squad of the Arab team features several important additions, but also some notable departures. The leader board has not changed. Tadej Pogacar will maintain primacy, both in choosing competitions and leading the teams that will accompany him. The Slovenian’s calendar is not yet official, but his fifth consecutive participation in the Tour de France – which he won in 2020 and 2021 – is confirmed, as are the long-distance races at the Paris Olympic Games (August 3) and the World Championship. , in Zurich, Switzerland (September 29). In doubt is still the spring classics program, which Pogacar will intend to subordinate, more than in recent years, to presenting himself in the best physical conditions in the Tour, which is reinforced as his main objective.
Among the other leaders, the British Adam Yates (3rd in the 2023 Tour), the Spaniard Juan Ayuso (4th in the 2023 Vuelta and 3rd in the 2022 Vuelta) and João Almeida (3rd in the 2023 Giro d’Italia ) will be distributed, in command of the formation, for the remaining grand tours (Giro and Vuelta).
The 25-year-old Portuguese, after four consecutive participations in the Tour of Italy and two in the Tour of Spain, has already expressed his interest in making his Tour debut in 2024, albeit in a subordinate position to Pogacar, but he won the competition, also just intentional, by young Juan Ayuso. The press conference on the 18th should clarify these doubts. When it comes to Yates, it seems almost certain that he will return to the Giro, in which he finished 9th in 2017, working for Orica-Scott.
In addition to the aforementioned main leaders, the Swiss Marc Hirschi, the North American Brandon McNulty or the Australian Jay Vine are other top runners on the team who remain in the squad, in addition to six reinforcements, including the Frenchman Pavel Sivakov (former -INEOS Grenadiers), the German Nils Politt (BORA-hansgrohe) or the very young promising Isaac Del Toro (AR Monex), the 20-year-old Mexican winner of the 2023 Tour de France of the Future or the precocious Spanish talent, of the same age, Igor Arrieta.
The technical and sporting direction is made up of the Italians Fabio Baldato, Fabrizio Guidi and Marco Marcato, as well as the Slovenian Andrej Hauptmann, who report to the transalpine Andrea Agostini, director of operations, and the Spanish Matxin Fernandez, main sporting director, and headed by the general director , the Swiss Mauro Gianetti.
«With this exceptional group, we are well positioned to continue to be successful», begins by declaring the Swiss in a press release published on the team’s website. «Cohesion, both among runners, directors and other staff, has a significant value for us», adds Gianetti.
«We are very pleased with the signings we made, of some young people with a huge future and other runners with more experience and proven track records, who come to make up for the departures of players who were important in previous seasons. And we have maintained the high quality core that has given us so much success”, says UAE Emirates No. 1 in the same note.
Hiring for 2024
Pavel Sivakov (Ineos)
Nils Politt (Bora)
Filippo Baroncini (Lidl-Trek)
Igor Arrieta (Kern Pharma)
António Morgado (Axeon)
Isaac of the Bull (AR Monex)
Outputs
Matteo Trentin (Tudor)
Pascal Ackermann (Israel)
Davide Formolo (Movistar)
Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek)
George Bennett (Israel)
Felix Gross (Rad-Net Oßwald)
Main stays
João Almeida (Portugal)
Juan Ayuso (Spain)
Mikkel Bjerg (Dinamarca)
Alessandro Covi (Italy)
Finn Fisher-Black (New Zealand)
Felix Großschartner (Austria)
Marc Hirschi (Switzerland)
Rafał Majka (Polónia)
Brandon McNulty (USA)
Juan Sebastian Molano (Colombia)
Ivo Oliveira (Portugal)
Rui Oliveira (Portugal)
Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia)
Marc Soler (Spain)
Diego Ulissi (Italy)
Jay Vine (Australia)
Tim Wellens (Belgica)
Adam Yates (Great Britain)
2023-12-07 23:14:00
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