Has UAE already secured the next rising star? "We’ll announce it soon," says Matxin

With the names above, UAE is clearly investing heavily in the future, although they are already somewhat the stars of today. Del Toro almost won the Giro d'Italia last week but was beaten by Simon Yates on the final day. In Ayuso, the Emirates team has a talent who, at 19, already finished third in the Vuelta a España, while Morgado has also performed well at the highest level.

And there seems to be another talent on the way, although it remains to be seen who that will be. After the Giro, Matxin told Ecuadorian newspaper Primicias: "Ecuadorian cyclists are very good. We've already signed one." The sports director did not want to say who that was. 'We'll announce that soon,’ said the Spaniard, but the answer can be found with some research.

The logical thing to do is to look at the riders from Ecuador who do not yet have a contract for next year. Richard Carapaz is the most famous name among them. The EF Education-EasyPost rider recently finished third in the Giro, but a rider of his caliber may not want to move to UAE. Alexander Cepeda (EF Education-EasyPost) and Martín López (Astana) are two other Ecuadorians without a contract for next year, while Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar) has already signed for 2026.

However, the answer seems to lie outside the aforementioned list of names. French journalist Renaud Breban noticed an Instagram story by Giacomo Notari, a trainer at UAE Emirates-XRG. A young Ecuadorian, Mateo Pablo Ramirez, could be spotted in it. This year, the 19-year-old from Ecuador is riding for High Level-Gsport-Grupo Tormo, a Spanish U23 team. The youngster finished third in the road race of the Ecuadorian road championship and second in the time trial.