Mauro Gianetti: Tour de France effort a huge source of pride for UAE Team Emirates

The Tour de France 2023. Wow. What an amazing spectacle for cycling fans around the world. It had everything: drama, action and some memorable moments for my team. Three stage victories, several podium places and holding the yellow and white jersey for long periods was an exceptional performance from the guys.

Adam Yates took an incredible victory during stage one in Bilbao and Tadej Pogacar took two fine stage wins on his way to the podium. Those guys really showed their class throughout the Tour, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the team.

This year, I think we really showed our strength as a group. This is absolutely key if you want to succeed in any World Tour event, let alone the Tour de France. We noticed last year that we were missing a lot of depth when guys had to pull out through Covid and injury. Losing riders in the toughest race of the season makes the challenge even harder – so I was super proud of each and every one of them and how they performed across the 21 stages.

Tadej had some real highs and lows throughout the Tour. He showed why he is the best rider in the world with his attacks and stage victories, but also what a great champion he is in the way he fought back to win Stage 20 after some really tough days against Jonas Vingegaard. His character and personality shone through, and these experiences will only benefit him as a rider in the future.

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