While Tadej Pogačar continues to dominate the Tour de France in pursuit of a fourth yellow jersey, the question remains of what comes next for UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s other top GC stars and prospects.
World champion Pogačar is, of course, the super team’s and world cycling’s highest-ranked rider, but their next three top points scorers are all also Grand Tour hopefuls: João Almeida, Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso.
None of them are currently racing at the Tour de France, with Almeida abandoning during stage 9 after a crash two days prior. Both Del Toro and Ayuso already raced at the Giro d’Italia, where the young Mexican stepped up on debut and finished second.
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The Vuelta a España looks like the obvious option, but only Almeida is a certain participant for the final Grand Tour of the season, confirmed on the second rest day by UAE sports manager Joxean Fernández Matxin to Marca.
“João is fine. I speak to him often. His side is still hurting a little, but the rest of his injuries are fine. It’s not a complicated fracture,” said Matxin to Marca, referring to the fractured rib Almeida suffered on stage 7 of the Tour.
“At the time, it was impossible to continue racing. He needs to rest, recover, and be ready for La Vuelta. The plan is to be there at 100%.”
Pogačar was scheduled to, and could ride the Vuelta for the first time since his Grand Tour debut in 2019, but after being asked about his possible participation several times during the Tour, confirmed that a decision would only be taken after the conclusion in Paris.
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In his absence, Almeida would surely be the leader, with the younger two GC hopefuls at UAE not on any provisional start lists for the Vuelta.
Ayuso instead has a bizarre schedule, with a focus not on his home Grand Tour – likely due to UAE’s policy of only allowing riders under-25 to compete in one Grand Tour a season – even despite his abandon from the Giro on stage 16.
The World Championships in Rwanda, Clasica San Sebastian and Il Lombardia are set to be his remaining big goals for the season, but rumours of an early departure from the Emirati super team have continued to circulate.
Het Laatste Nieuws reported on Monday that despite Ayuso’s contract lasting until 2028, Ayuso has now hired Giovanni Lombardi as his manager to help him pursue a move away from UAE, having fallen down the pecking order and feeling that “Pogačar is blocking him.”
A move away will be incredibly difficult to manage, but the Spaniard seems to have lost confidence in the team that he turned pro with four years ago. Ayuso, 22, had burst onto the scene as the next superstar prospect at UAE, finishing third and fourth at his first two Vuelta appearances, but he’s not part of Pogačar’s favoured support squad for the Tour, and Del Toro has perhaps surpassed him.
The 21-year-old Mexican confirmed to the world his Tour de l’Avenir-winning potential throughout the Giro, taking second and only losing out on the penultimate stage to a superb Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike). With his contract until 2029, he looks to be one of Pogačar’s potential successors and a Grand Tour star for the next decade.
He, too, likely won’t be allowed to race the Vuelta because of his age, but with a successful Giro under his belt, Del Toro won’t fret and has only kicked on after May with a series of dominant performances in smaller races.
Just yesterday, he won the Clàssica Terres de l’Ebre solo, 46 seconds ahead of second, having returned to competition with a bang at the Tour of Austria, netting three stage wins and the overall victory. The remainder of his 2025 will likely see him race similar-level races, with more wins no doubt on the horizon.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s future prospects will be followed closely, but for the moment, it seems to be Almeida and Del Toro who will star alongside Pogačar in the coming years, and not Ayuso, especially if he can find a way out of his 2028 contract.