UAE steps in to shield Pogacar after training incidents

One flashpoint came when Jonas Vingegaard crashed on a descent while being followed closely by an amateur during training, an incident that ultimately forced the Dane to postpone his planned 2026 debut at the UAE Tour. 

Only weeks later, Tadej Pogacar described on Strava how a fan reacted angrily after being asked to wait two minutes for a photo while the Slovenian was mid conversation.

Matxin frames it as a modern roadside problem: everyone has a camera, and everything becomes a clip. “This is a matter of moments and of more visualisations, something that is very much a trend,” he explained to AS. 

“I have seen very complicated situations where amateurs, caught up in the excitement, start recording in the middle of the road. If a rider answers sharply because there is a car coming in the opposite lane and someone is invading that lane, the one who looks bad is the rider. But sometimes the context is completely different.”

He insists the team is not blind to the passion of fans. “I am the first to defend the fan. Every day our riders stop for photos and conversations. But you would not walk into someone’s workplace and start filming them while they are doing their job. For a cyclist, that workplace is on the bike. For others it is leisure time. For the rider it is work.”

Those blurred boundaries have pushed UAE to take practical measures during camps in Alicante. Smaller training groups, typically eight riders, are now accompanied by a motorbike positioned behind Pogačar. The intention is to manage traffic and avoid long vehicle queues.

“If we train in groups of 20, cars cannot pass. So we split into smaller groups. But when amateurs join in, the group becomes too large again. Who decides who can ride along and who cannot? Who has the right measure to ensure nobody feels disrespected?” Matxin asks. 

“Now we put a motorbike behind Tadej so there is respect for that reduced group and cars can pass without creating kilometres of traffic.”

The underlying issue, he suggests, is empathy. Riders operate under pressure, often at high speed, and sometimes in dangerous conditions. A single misjudged movement, a phone raised in the wrong place, can escalate quickly. 

“If someone responds badly while being filmed, maybe it is provoked by everything happening around that moment,” he says. “If we make a mistake, we apologise. But if you ask for two minutes and someone gets angry, who is right? The one who gets angry or the one who asks to wait?”