Young American talent called up to Pogačar's Vuelta a España team: 'Tadej's calmness gives extra strength'

Things can sometimes happen very quickly. Last year, Kevin Vermaerke was riding for Picnic PostNL on the fringes of the WorldTour. This year he made the leap to the absolute world elite. The American rides for UAE Team Emirates-XRG and will compete in the Vuelta a España. He’ll be riding alongside Tadej Pogacar, who hopes to win his first Vuelta a España.

Vermaerke had been riding for DSM—later Picnic PostNL—since 2021 and was a very consistent performer there. But when UAE Team Emirates-XRG came calling, it was hard to say no. “It was a no-brainer for me,” he tells Domestique. “When I started looking for teams, UAE was pretty high on my list. When they also showed interest in me, it confirmed the gut feeling I’d had.”

It was a huge change, though. “It’s definitely not the team you join if you want to be guaranteed a leadership role or a specific race schedule. You really have to fight a bit for your spot, because the level of competition is just so high. But that was something I saw as a priority, because I knew it would push me to raise my game even higher. That was the atmosphere I wanted, and it’s been a breath of fresh air.”

Because competing at the top brings pressure, but also a certain sense of relief. “Everyone knows they have to perform, but there’s no unnecessary stress, which can often lead to negative results. In a smaller team, if you’re really worried about the budget or UCI points, you can quickly start fretting over little things that might not matter that much.”

The spot on the Vuelta roster came as a surprise to the 25-year-old Vermaerke. “I actually already felt that I wouldn’t be riding a Grand Tour, and I think I would have been perfectly fine with that. At the start of the year, my goal was to make the most of the team’s resources, explore new, smaller races, earn my first pro victory, and take a personal step forward.”

Riding alongside Pogacar is an amazing experience, as the American has come to realize. It’s a huge change from riding with Picnic PostNL. “I’d never been on a team that had won a WorldTour race, but this year I was part of the team that won the UAE Tour, Strade Bianche, Tirreno, the Dauphiné, and the Tour de Romandie.”

The fact that he’s been invited to Spain says a lot about the UAE’s confidence in him. “Almost every roster the team puts together for a Grand Tour could be a Tour de France-level team.” I’m aware that with every race, you raise your profile a bit more and prove that the team can rely on you. So I think the Vuelta will definitely be a test race for next year, and especially for racing alongside Tadej.”

Vermaerke has already ridden the Tour de France twice with his previous team, but he now dreams of one day competing alongside the Slovenian for the Tour title. “I’d really love to ride the Tour with him someday, and I think that if I can show how reliable I am over the next three weeks, that’s definitely something the team will take note of.”

Vermaerke now knows what it’s like to ride alongside an undisputed team leader. At Picnic PostNL, he was often one of the riders given a free role, but the 25-year-old all-rounder has taken on a very different role. Yet Pogacar knows how to elevate him to a new level as a leader.

"Tadej's calmness gives you just that little bit of extra strength to do your job even better. Romandy was a good example, because I was sick a week before the race and didn’t get on my bike. If I had gone to that race with another team, it would have just been a matter of getting by and plowing through it. But knowing that I was riding with him gave me so much more energy."

It finally feels like his work is worth something, which wasn't always the case with his previous team. "You sacrifice a race for a team leader, and afterward, you don't get much thanks, so you end up feeling a bit like, 'Man, I sacrificed my race.' But with Tadej, when he wins the race, he makes everyone feel like they played a part in it—from the mechanics to the support staff to his teammates.”