UAE Team Emirates management have played down the reports that Tadej Pogačar has been ill and off training, saying that it was a mild case of gastroenteritis that will not affect his season start.
Italian media claimed that the double Tour de France winner had been off training for a week because of illness.
But UAE Team Emirates management said there was nothing to worry about and that he is back on track despite the minor setback.
“Tadej had a slight case of gastroenteritis, but nothing more unusual than that,” sports manager Joxean Fernandez Matxin told Cyclingnews at the start of stage 2 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
“He missed a few days of training, and obviously, the training days that came immediately afterwards weren’t as high quality as they could have been because he was getting back to normal. But it’s not going to affect his season debut.”
Matxin remained cagy about where Pogačar would start his season, saying it had been decided “of course,” but it would be up to the team when they decided to make that public.
There are unconfirmed reports that Pogačar may begin at the Clásica Jaén one-day race in Spain on February 13th before going on to the UAE Tour, where he is defending champion later this month.
“The whole year’s program has been worked out right the way through to October,” Matxin said, “but that’s information which the team will publish in due course.”
Speaking more generally, he said, “The idea is to do a first block of racing up until the Ardennes, then stop and build up for the Tour. But whatever happens, it’s in Tadej’s character and the team’s to be competitive in every race he takes part in.”
As for the squad’s more general goals, Matxin said it was only logical that the UAE Tour will be one of their key objectives of the year. “Look at the name of the team. It’s our mini Tour de France,” he said. “But in general, our idea is to have one or two riders in top form for each race we do, no matter the category.
“In Mallorca, we had Tim Wellens and Brandon McNulty, along with Juan Sebastian Molano, for the sprints. And in the Saudi Tour [this week], Felix Großschartner and Davide Formolo and so on.”
Although the UAE Tour comes very early in the season, making it tough to maintain top form from that point to later goals, Matxin said that the squad knew how to handle that challenge.
“Essentially, it’s about bringing the first peak of form forward by a little, but then maintaining that level through to the Classics, Itzulia and so on,” he explained. “It’s definitely doable.
“What we do make sure of is that all those riders who have a first period of top form through to Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Tour de Romandie, then all rest up before they come back into the Dauphiné, Tour of Slovenia, Tour de Suisse and the races that come afterwards.”
