On paper, the first twelve stages of this Vuelta a Espana have been very successful for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. The peloton’s biggest super-team have won five stages so far, three on the trot in week one, two apiece for Juan Ayuso and Jay Vine.
Joao Almeida sits second in the overall standings.
But all this is merely papering over the cracks. UAE have a serious problem on their hands, one entirely of their own making, that may well sabotage Almeida’s chances of glory ahead of today’s ‘queen stage’.
Before the Vuelta began I wrote that UAE’s biggest obstacle to keeping a title bid on track .So it has come to pass. It might actually be more accurate to call it outright civil war.
Hostilities are centred around the figure of Ayuso, who the team announced on Monday’s first rest day would leave the team at the end of the season, terminating his lucrative long-term contract three years early. The remainder of the 2025 season will be spent in limbo for him, at once part of the team and halfway out the exit door, a sort of fifth column.
The statement was telling. While there were the usual platitudes about gratitude and mutual goodwill, UAE noted: “our sporting project has always been focused on continuity, group harmony, and building a winning team. We believe that, in the best interests of both parties, this decision is the most consistent with the values that define our organization.”
The phrase “group harmony” could hardly do heavier lifting there. The Spaniard is undoubtedly one of the peloton’s most talented riders: on the Vuelta podium aged just 19, a winner of Tirreno-Adriatico, a Giro and Vuelta stage winner. But he has also drawn ire for his perceived unwillingness to play the game. Relations with Almeida have looked strained since the Portuguese had a go at him during the 2024 Tour de France for not doing enough as part of Tadej Pogacar’s support train.
Then there was the uneasy truce between Ayuso and the even younger talent of Isaac del Toro at the Giro, with UAE reluctant to make the call on which rider to protect, and both essentially riding for themselves until del Toro emerged on top. Ayuso may have felt himself slipping down the pecking order, and wanted out.
This week’s statement, and the implosion within UAE, is the end result. Ayuso hasn’t gone on strike as such, in the manner of a wantaway Premier League footballer. But he more or less gave up on stage six, losing huge chunks of time and leaving Almeida isolated, before roaring back to win stage seven. The message was clear: The Spaniard has the form, but not the will, to make a difference for his teammate.
Then there came an explosive interview with Spanish media on Tuesday, calling UAE a “dictatorship” and claiming the timing of the statement was designed to “damage my reputation”. Things calmed down a little as he was seen doing a turn, however brief, for Almeida on stage 10, and Jay Vine – who also seems to have a free role for this race –
But the atmosphere on the team bus can hardly be pleasant – and it makes Almeida’s task of taking on red jersey and out-and-out favourite Jonas Vingegaard even harder.
Ayuso and fellow Spaniard Marc Soler – another whose every-man-for-himself style has raised eyebrows throughout his career – then went in the breakaway on Thursday’s stage 12, which Ayuso duly won. No doubt that will be little comfort to Almeida. He would surely appreciate having some lieutenants around him for Friday’s ascent of L’Angliru, the Vuelta’s most gruesome climb, rather than having two talented teammates burn their matches the day prior for their own gain.
It has been conspicuous how differently the two big teams have approached this race. At every moment so far Vingegaard has had a platoon of yellow and black foot soldiers around him, shepherding him through any potentially tricky moments. Almeida has been almost entirely isolated. The Portuguese rider, more than Ayuso, has grounds to be angered by his team and the powers that be.
UAE would surely prefer to win a grand tour in its entirety than a few stages. Particularly with Almeida, one of the strongest general classification riders in the world. So why sabotage his chances by bringing such a disruptive presence as Ayuso, when the decision to terminate his contract can hardly have been a spur-of-the-moment one? And why have the rest of the team not been read the riot act?
It may be a case that UAE’s man-management has simply failed, that they have promised too many talented riders leadership at too many races and it’s become impossible to juggle all those competing interests. Or that they’ve failed to ensure riders fall into line for the greater good of the team. But the team’s dysfunction is also symptomatic of a wider problem within cycling – in fact within many team sports – that UAE have played a significant part in exacerbating.
The team’s enormous budget, and no doubt the draw of riding with Pogacar, has meant they have stuffed their roster with not just the elite riders of this generation but the stars of the future. Ayuso and Almeida must compete with del Toro, with Jan Christen and Pablo Torres waiting in the wings. Smaller squads see their promising talent lured away, while the peloton is skewing ever-younger, with pressure piled on the shoulders of riders scarcely out of the junior ranks.
UAE are to cycling what Todd Boehly’s Chelsea is to football: a sprawling outfit of supremely talented individuals, amassed at huge cost and to the detriment of other squads, but not a particularly convincing team. Pogacar’s brilliance – and the fact that no rider would dare challenge him – hides this at races the Slovenian rides.
But the simple fact is that without Pogacar, the team has no lynchpin, no cohesion, and no identity. UAE’s habit of hoarding talented young riders has come back to bite them. Ayuso is the first out the door, and in dramatic fashion, but there are any number that could follow in his footsteps.
Pogacar is in his prime, but it’s an oft-repeated truism that anything can change in cycling, from a collapse in form to an injury. UAE need a plan for his eventual successor, and to lay down the law when the charismatic Pogacar isn’t racing. Perhaps an overhaul of their entire strategy is in order. Otherwise their supposed super-team will simply fall apart – and bring down a cycling dynasty.