UAE Team Emirates Manager Joxean Fernández Matxin told the Spanish media that he wants his team “in one, two, or three years” to become the best in the world, but he acknowledges that it will not be an easy job to deal with Team Ineos or Jumbo-Visma.
Now that Chris Froome, four-time winner of the Tour de France, is switching from Ineso to Israel next season, clearly also raising the potential of the Israeli WorldTour team, adding another rival to the UAE Team Emirates mix.
The team needs to get on the ground when the main races begin again at the end of July, with the hope that they will launch the 2020 season before the coronavirus pandemic prevents competition. At the beginning of the year in Argentina, Sprinter Fernando Gaviria won three stages in Vuelta a San Juan, while Tadej Pogacar was triumphant on two stage finishes and took over the title in February at the Volta a la comunitat Valenciana.
“Within a realistic time frame, we’re going to try to be the best team in the world,” Matxin told Spanish cycling website Biciciclismo.com on Thursday, “but I don’t know if that will be within one, two or three years’ time. It’ll be difficult, and we have to respect our rivals, like Team Ineos, who’ve been the best for a long time, and have a large structure, while Jumbo-Visma have been growing in leaps and bounds.
“We know it will be difficult, but you also have to set important goals in order to try to achieve them,” he said.
In February, Juan Sebastian Molano won three stages of the Tour Colombia 2.1 and a brand new brand Brandon McNulty was impressed by a good display at Vuelta a San Juan, which was the fourth overall finish of the 22-year-old American Climber.
