Now that Matxin Fernández is staying, UAE Team Emirates keeps the team around Pogacar intact

One of UAE Team Emirates' key players has extended his contract. Joxean "Matxin" Fernández has committed to the Emirates team until 2028. The 53-year-old Spaniard is indispensable to Tadej Pogacar's team and is considered one of the most important contributors to last season's dazzling success.

Starting in 2018, Fernández has made himself indispensable at UAE Team Emirates. First as a team manager, but later, he progressed to the general manager position. Today, he is also part of the development team's staff. "I feel part of this project because it is more like a family than a team of workers, and it is important because they appreciate me," he said in an interview with AS. "Continuing was easy: I didn't choose this for financial reasons."

"I signed as Team Manager and as a person in charge of management. My job is more of a manager because I no longer care for the cars, clothes, etc. I continue to do the calendar and selection." Thanks to his team's success, the choice to continue was straightforward: "Two years in a row the best team in the world, where we won 81 races: 82 with the World Championship added... They even offered me six years, but ultimately, we chose four, just like the previous contract. A lot has changed in the last four years."

With all those wins, UAE Team Emirates came very close to the record of 85 wins in a season. "I thought we could get seventy wins, but we were aiming for sixty. We changed the whole team concept. We won only one race in the sprint. Of the record of 85, 90 percent was from a sprint." Team Columbia-HTC in 2009 managed to beat the record. Tadej Pogacar was the team's biggest winner with his 25 victories. Fernández thinks he can do even better. "I do not doubt it. Obviously, it won't be a 30 percent margin, but he knows how things are done and how to execute."