UAE boss Gianetti makes surprise pick for team’s most memorable Tour moment - 'That really moved me'

Tadej Pogačar’s first Tour victory still stands apart for the Swiss director of the Emirate team. The Slovenian overturned the race in the final time trial in 2020, producing the kind of dramatic finish that has been impossible to match since.

“For me, the first one remains the most beautiful because it happened in such a spectacular way,” Gianetti told Cyclism’Actu.

Pogačar started the final time trial behind Primož Roglič, then overturned the race on La Planche des Belles Filles to take yellow on the last competitive day of the Tour.

It was his debut, his first overall win and the moment UAE announced itself at the very top of the sport.

The 2026 success came in a completely different way. There was no late shock, but control from start to finish. Pogačar arrived as the clear favourite and won like one.

For Gianetti, however, the biggest difference was not how dominant Pogačar had become. It was how he used that position within the team.

“This year, beyond the result and the stage victories, there was the image of friendship, the support between our riders and the desire to work together,” Gianetti said. “That is an image that goes beyond victories.”

Where the 2020 Tour will be memorized by the shock of Pogačar’s breakthrough, the 2026 edition showed the maturity of both the rider and the organisation around him.

“It was a special Tour because of the great maturity Tadej Pogačar showed this year,” Gianetti said, also pointing to the relationship between Pogačar, Isaac Del Toro and the rest of the UAE squad.

“You see all the guys in the bus in the morning. They motivate each other, they concentrate, they want it and they enjoy suffering together.”

Asked which image from the Tour would stay with him, Gianetti could not settle on just one. He chose three, all centred on riders putting a teammate’s interests ahead of their own.

The first came in Barcelona on Stage 2, when Pogačar rode behind Del Toro and urged the Mexican to keep pushing for victory.

“He was shouting from behind Isaac, ‘Go, go’, trying to help him win,” Gianetti recalled. UAE ultimately secured a first and second place finish.

Another came when Pogačar, despite wearing the yellow jersey, worked for Del Toro to help him secure third place in the general classification and seal the white jersey.

“The yellow jersey became the domestique of the rider who was third overall, his best friend,” Gianetti said.

The moment that stayed with Gianetti most came on Stage 17, the 174.7 kilometer run from Chambéry to Voiron.

Yates had been struggling with stomach problems since the previous day’s time trial and was dropped with around 65 kilometres remaining. With his place in the race under threat, UAE sent Wellens back to help him reach the finish.

“The day Tim stopped to wait for Adam, for me, that was something really moving,” Gianetti said.

Wellens stayed with Yates as they crossed the line more than 26 minutes behind stage winner Jasper Philipsen, but safely inside the time limit.

The gesture summed up Gianetti’s view of UAE’s Tour. Pogačar collected the victories, but the race was built on riders accepting a supporting role when a teammate needed them.

“Cycling is an extraordinary sport because there is only one rider who wins, but there is a whole team working so that the other one can win,” he said.

“We all work together towards one goal. When we cannot reach it personally, we do it for somebody else.”