Matxin agrees with Pogacar that 'spectacular' 2025 was his best season yet

UAE Team Emirates-XRG sports manager Matxin Joxean Fernandez has agreed with Tadej Pogačar’s sentiment that his 2025 campaign was his “best season so far” after the World Champion’s historic fifth Il Lombardia victory on Saturday.

"This year was splendid because, despite racing less, they were better races and with more defined goals," Matxin said to AS following Lombardy.

"I agree with him on that statement because he met all his goals except for Milan-San Remo, which is a very difficult race. The rest, yes, and that's why I'm choosing this year. It's a very difficult thing to achieve, and although we also have to be humble, achieving this is spectacular,” said Matxin.

It was an emotional affair at Il Lombardia, as Rafał Majka, who was part of Tadej Pogačar’s Tour de France winning squad in 2021 and Giro d’Italia success in 2024, lined up for his final outing as a professional before retiring at the age of 36. The World Champion’s success in Lombardy served as a tribute to the Pole, as Matxin acknowledged.

“That's right. We had talked about it beforehand, hoping to surprise him at the start, and it's what a champion like him, who sacrificed himself so many times for the rest, deserved," said Matxin.

Before the start of Il Lombardia on Saturday, Pogačar echoed his appreciation for the Pole. "It's been such an honour to ride with him, he was my big brother, my mentor through these last few years. We've been through so much together. He helped me to become what I've become, and I will miss him so much after today,” said Pogačar to Cyclingpronet.

Matxin admitted that the plan had been to let Majka do the final turn on the front before Pogačar launched his race-winning attack on the Passo di Ganda, but the strength of the in-form Jay Vine meant that Majka could perform his duties even earlier than anticipated.

“In fact, the initial strategy, honestly, was to leave Majka to push at the end, but the rider himself was aware of how Vine had been training in recent days and that he was ideal for it.”

Isaac del Toro was given a free role to play, a significant compliment for any rider sharing the same team bus at a race as the imperious Pogačar, and Matxin revealed an added incentive behind the decision, beyond the young Mexican’s talent, which saw him win six Italian one-day races in the space of 32 days.

“We wanted to protect Del Toro because, and no one knows this until now, we wanted him to make the top 10 because, by doing so, he would move up to third place in the UCI rider rankings,” said Matxin.

Looking ahead to the future, Pogačar has identified the two Monuments missing from his impressive palmarès as primary objectives, and Matxin considers this a natural progression. 

"He has the Giro di Lombardia. He has Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He has the Tour of Flanders. A rider like Tadej wants to have the best races, and those are the two Monuments, so it's only natural."

Before the 2025 season rounds out, Matxin turns his attention to the potential of UAE reaching 100 victories in a season, having already broken the record of 85 set by HTC in 2009, with their current tally running at 93. Matxin believes 100 wins is still possible.

"A lot depends on what happens in China [Tour of Guangxi] I'm confident we can do well there," said Matxin about the Chinese stage race, where Jhonatan Narváez leads the team.

"If we reach 100, great, but no pressure, because the goal of being the team with the most wins in a year has already been achieved."