Matxín reflects on UAE’s historic 2025: 'For 2026, I ask for one more win'

Asked for his overall grade, Matxín went high, but not perfect. “High pass. Not outstanding, because outstanding is perfection and it has not been perfection,” he said to Marca. “We missed certain victories, so it was not perfect. But yes, we have been at a historic level.” 

The numbers back him up. “We won 17 stage races, we won with 20 different riders and we achieved 41,000 points which is the absolute record. We have been the best team in the world for three straight years. It is something to be very satisfied with. High pass, I think.”

For Matxín himself, the real work is not winning, it is keeping a winning machine stable. “Winning is difficult, but the most difficult thing is to make everyone grow without the balance breaking,” he said, adding that the key is direct conversations so riders know where their individual chances lie and when the collective comes first. “When roles are clear, misunderstandings are not created.”

One of the standout decisions for the 2026 schedule is Isaac del Toro’s Tour debut. Matxín couched it as a controlled learning experience rather than a coronation. 

“Since I was with him at Il Lombardia we talked a little about this,” he said. “I presented both possibilities. He liked both, but he was a bit more seduced by trying the Tour. And also doing it without pressure, with the focus on Pogačar. It is the best way to go through the Tour without anyone demanding, asking, or having any expectations, because he is really going to learn.”

Pogačar’s own calendar still has one major unanswered question next to the focus on the Tour de France and the Monuments, namely his participation in the Vuelta a España. Matxín said the team will wait until after the Tour before making a decision on whether he will return to the race for the first time since 2019. 

“Yes, that is how it has been established,” he said. “The Vuelta is not ruled out, obviously, but we want to be respectful with the race. We do not want to generate expectations if we do not really know how Pogačar is. We will wait.”

The team’s win count became its own storyline in 2025, though Matxín played down the significance of trying to reach a century of wins in one season. 

“100 is just a number. If it can be done, one more than last year,” he said. “We won 97 in 2025. At UCI level it is 95 because the two Del Toro wins are considered 2026.” Then he added a final twist. “In 2025 we won 97, although honestly I think it is 99 if we add Pogačar’s World and European titles, which were with Slovenia but we also worked on them.”

With 95 wins, the team shattered the 16 year old record set by Team Columbia HTC in 2009, when they claimed 85 victories.

Matxín also reacted to the idea of swapping Grand Tour dates, a debate his leader Pogačar has already weighed in on. Pointing to snow risk in the Giro and extreme heat at the Vuelta, Pogačar has argued that both races would benefit from switching places.

Matxín himself said any change is for organisers, but he echoed the logic of his rider, noting August in Spain and possible snow in Italy. “If the we did the 2026 Vuelta in April, surely no stage will be cancelled,” he said.