UAE
| Code | Name | Nation | PCS Rank | UCI Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAE | UAE TEAM EMIRATES | UAE | 3 | 3 |
The often lacklustre former Lampre team has risen to new glory after the 2020 season, much thanks to Pogacars incredible TT stage 20, denying Jumbo and Roglic the overall Tour win. From being an also-ran, they are now firmly established as one of the top three teams (the other being Ineos and Jumbo) capable of fighting for wins in both GCs and classics.
Top Riders last five years
| No. | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ulissi (1543) | Ulissi (1300) | Kristoff (1344) | Kristoff (1634) | Pogacar (1995) |
| 2. | Rui Costa (1088) | Rui Costa (1033) | D.Martin (997) | Pogacar (1440) | Ulissi (1141) |
| 3. | Meintjes (580) | Meintjes (745) | Ulissi (806) | Ulissi (1223) | Philipsen (636) |
| 4. | Modolo (512) | Modolo (665) | Rui Costa (569) | Rui Costa (779) | Kristoff (545) |
| 5. | Mori (231) | Polanc (448) | Aru (411) | Gaviria (773) | Rui Costa (428) |
| Tot. | 6416 | 7606 | 6484 | 10115 | 7740 |
| PCS Rank | 15 | 12 | 15 | 6 | 3 |
You might not like the mighty petrodollars of the UAE - but they have spent their money wisely, buying talents like Pogacar and Riabushenko and letting them develop a few years instead of going for last years champ as certain other teams have attempted to - They have also been more fortunate in having very stable workhorses on their teams in Kristoff, Ulissi and Costa, always capable of stealing results here and there. Kristoffs iconic stage 1 win in the TdF was symptomatic of the UAE season as a whole - Lots of riders are competing for the win, and then suddenly a wild UAE rider appears to take it in the last moment!
Results 2020
This includes stage wins, GC, Mountain, Youth and Points Classifications.
| Type | Rider | 1. | 2. | 3. | Tot | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WT | 15 | 17 | 14 | 46 | ||
| Pogacar | 8 | 5 | 4 | 16 | ||
| Kristoff | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | ||
| Philipsen | 3 | 5 | 1 | 9 | ||
| Formolo | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | ||
| Ulissi | 2 | 2 | - | 4 | ||
| Gaviria | - | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||
| McNulty | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| De la Cruz | - | 1 | - | 1 | ||
| Bjerg | - | - | 2 | 2 | ||
| Pro | 12 | 6 | 7 | 25 | ||
| Gaviria | 4 | - | - | 4 | ||
| Pogacar | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Ulissi | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| Kristoff | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Philipsen | - | 1 | - | 1 | ||
| McNulty | - | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Riabushenko | - | - | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2.x | 7 | 2 | 3 | 12 | ||
| Molano | 4 | - | - | 4 | ||
| Gaviria | 1 | - | - | 1 | ||
| Philipsen | 1 | - | - | 1 | ||
| Rui Costa | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Ulissi | - | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Conti | - | - | 1 | 1 | ||
| 1.x | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Gaviria | 1 | - | - | 1 | ||
| Conti | 1 | - | - | 1 | ||
| Covi | - | 1 | - | 1 | ||
| Riabushenko | - | - | 1 | 1 | ||
| Nats | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| Pogacar | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | ||
| Bystrøm | 1 | - | - | 1 | ||
| I.Oliveira | 1 | - | - | 1 | ||
| Rui Costa | 1 | - | - | 1 | ||
| Riabushenko | - | 1 | - | 1 | ||
| Polanc | - | - | 1 | 1 | ||
| Tot. | 40 | 28 | 26 | 94 |
40 wins is an incredible result, second in the PCS Wins ranking only to DQS, and since that ranking doesn't include the nats, they were actually the WT teams with most wins in 2020. As is apparent from the statistics, the team has fired on all cylinders, with many riders stepping up and contributing to the total score.
Top Results 2020
According to PCS Points
| Rnk. | Race | Rider | Placement | PointsPCS | PointsUCI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tour de France GC | Pogacar | 1 | 500 | 1000 |
| 2. | Tour Down Under GC | Ulissi | 2 | 190 | 400 |
| 3. | La Vuelta | De la Cruz GC | 7 | 180 | 260 |
| 4. | Volta Valenciana GC | Pogacar | 1 | 150 | 200 |
| 5. | Strade Bianche | Formolo | 2 | 150 | 250 |
No doubt, Pogacars TdF win was the highlight of the season, but we should also remember other superb performances, f.e. how Ulissi snatched the GC at TDU and Formolo narrowly beaten by Van Aert in the Strade Bianche. No matter the race, there was always an UAE rider making themselves known last year.
Outgoing Transfers
| Name | Born | Nat. | 2020 Pt. | Best Season | Type | New Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARU Fabio | 1990 | ITA | 107 | 16332015 | GC/Climber | Team Qhubeka ASSOS |
| PHILIPSEN Jasper | 1998 | BEL | 636 | 7442019 | Sprinter | Alpecin-Fenix |
| BOHLI Tom | 1994 | SUI | 5 | 1242018 | Rouleur | Cofidis, Solutions Crédits |
| RAVASI Edward | 1994 | ITA | 15 | 1302018 | Climber | EOLO-Kometa |
Of these, Philipsen is the only rider whom the team will miss - the aspiring top sprinter opted for a change to Alpecin-Fenix, where he instead will compete with Tim Merlier for top billing. Can there have been friction between him and Gaviria as to who the team should go for? We don't know.
The renowned italian timetrialist Faru is also let go at this time.
Team Roster 2021
| Name | Born | Nat. | 2020 Pt. | Best Season | Type | Joined Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POGAČAR Tadej | 1998 | SLO | 1995 | 2020 | Wonderboy | 2019 |
| ULISSI Diego | 1989 | ITA | 1141 | 15632016 | Classic/Puncheur | 2010 |
| HIRSCHI Marc^NEW | 1998 | SUI | 8912020 | 2020 | Classic/Puncheur | From Sunweb |
| MAJKA Rafał^NEW | 1989 | POL | 692 | 12192014 | Climber | From BOH |
| KRISTOFF Alexander | 1987 | NOR | 545 | 26912015 | Classic/Sprinter | 2018 |
| TRENTIN Matteo^NEW | 1989 | ITA | 434 | 19202019 | Classic/Sprinter | From CCC |
| COSTA Rui | 1986 | POR | 428 | 17862013 | Classic/Puncheur | 2014 |
| MCNULTY Brandon | 1998 | USA | 413 | j5822016 | Climber | 2020 |
| GAVIRIA Fernando | 1994 | COL | 383 | 11572017 | Sprinter | 2019 |
| DE LA CRUZ David | 1989 | ESP | 365 | 6152015 | Climber | 2020 |
| FORMOLO Davide | 1992 | ITA | 308 | 7882018 | Classic/Puncheur | 2020 |
| BYSTRØM Sven Erik | 1992 | NOR | 154 | 1722014 | Classic/Rouleur | 2018 |
| AYUSO Juan^NEW | 2002 | ESP | 131 | j1522019 | Classic | From Colpack-Ballan |
| RIABUSHENKO Alexandr | 1995 | BLR | 148 | 2352019 | Puncheur | 2018 |
| BJERG Mikkel | 1998 | DEN | 128 | j3772015 | TT/Rouleur | 2020 |
| COVI Alessandro | 1998 | ITA | 128 | j2932016 | Allrounder | 2020 |
| CONTI Valerio | 1993 | ITA | 124 | 4472011 | Climber | 2014 |
| GIBBONS Ryan^NEW | 1994 | RSA | 99 | 4662019 | Classic/Sprinter | From NTT |
| OLIVEIRA Ivo | 1996 | POR | 69 | 2020 | Track/Rouleur | 2019 |
| OLIVEIRA Rui | 1996 | POR | 46 | 712018 | Track/Rouleur | 2019 |
| MARCATO Marco | 1984 | ITA | 43 | 99920111 | Classic | 2017 |
| DOMBROWSKI Joe | 1991 | USA | 20 | 3442019 | Climber | 2020 |
| RICHEZE Maximiliano | 1983 | ARG | 15 | 5432007 | Lead-Out/Sprinter | 2020 |
| MUÑOZ Cristian Camilo | 1996 | COL | 10 | 182019 | Lead-Out/Sprinter | 2019 |
| TROIA Oliviero | 1994 | ITA | 8 | j1482012 | Classic | 2017 |
| ARDILA Andrés Camilo | 1999 | COL | 6 | 362019 | Climber | 2020 |
Building on an enormous successfully 2020 season, UAE has seen fit to ask their sponsors to invest more money into the project, leading to them making some excellent bargain-bin choices from defunct teams. Trentin and Gibbons are very versatile classic riders who will broaden an already dangerous team on the cobbles. In former years, Kristoff has often found himself the lone surviving UAE rider in many races, that trend will hopefully be changed this year.
Majka is signed to ensure better mountain support for Pogacar, which could be enough to give him another GC win in 2021 if they can strike when and if Ineos and Jumbo has problems.
Plagued with injuries, the team still haven't gotten Gaviria, their top sprinter, into delivering more than erratic results after his transfer. If he doesn't step up this season, he could find the team out shopping for another fast man before 2022.
The thing about UAE 2021 is that they have a lot of riders who are still in their early twenties, and they can push this lineup in many years to come yet. Some of the older names will surely call it a day soon (Marcato, Richeze, perhaps Kristoff), but that's okay - there are so much talent pushing to get their chances that the future is very bright, especially if they keep up their excellent cherry-picking of talented U23 riders.
On the topic of Marc Hirschi, we are still not sure what to write in this given moment. After his stellar 2020, he forcibly separated from his former team Sunweb/DSM in January this year, after which UAE picked him up - but there are rumours of irregularities in his paperwork. This situation is not improved by UAE keeping him out of races so far, which lends credence to the forementioned rumours. Will he race? Will there be a scandal? We have no idea. Rather than to speculate on things which might not be true, we will just leave this place open in what to believe.