Paris (AFP)
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, winner of the Tour de France 2020, has extended his contract with the UAE team until 2026, the UAE cycling team announced on Tuesday.
"I feel at home in this team, there is a special atmosphere between the leaders, the management and the riders, and it is good to bathe in such a positive environment", he explained, in the press release from his team.
Pogacar, 22, has just won the UAE Tour, or United Emirates Tour, the first event on the WorldTour calendar for his comeback.
He joined UAE in 2019 after having studied in the continental team Ljubljana Gusto Santi, and had already extended his contract last year until 2024.
In the UAE team jersey, Pogacar won in addition to the Tour de France 2020, with three stage successes as well as the rankings of best climber and best youngster, the Tour of California 2019 and three victories in stage on the Tour of Spain 2019.
"Tadej is our present and our future," insisted team president Matar Al Yabhouni.
"This is already the third time that we have extended his contract," recalled the team's sporting director, Switzerland's Mauro Gianetti.
"Which shows his commitment to the project that we are building here in the United Arab Emirates."
"We are creating a real group, united, with an atmosphere that reminds me of nothing of what I have experienced in cycling. I am particularly proud of it," said the former professional rider.
./jr/dif
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