UAE_Team_Emirates Knowpia

UAE Team Emirates
Team information
UCI code	UAD
Registered	Italy (1999–2016); UAE (2017–present)
Founded	1999
Discipline(s)	Road
Status	UCI WorldTeam
Bicycles	Colnago
Components	Shimano, Enve
Website	Team home page
Key personnel
General manager	Mauro Gianetti
Team manager(s)	Matxin Fernandez
Team name history
1999–2002	Lampre–Daikin
2003–2004	Lampre–Caffita
2005	Lampre
2006–2007	Lampre–Fondital
2008	Lampre
2009	Lampre–NGC
2010	Lampre–Farnese Vini
2011–2012	Lampre–ISD
2013–2016	Lampre–Merida
2017	UAE Abu Dhabi
2017–	UAE Team Emirates
	Current season

UAE Team Emirates (UCI team code: UAD) is an Emirati road bicycle racing team. The team competes at UCI WorldTeam level and has done so since the UCI World Tour was formed as the top category of road cycling in 2005.

History

The team was established in 2017 as UAE Abu Dhabi before being renamed UAE Team Emirates in 2018. It is sponsored by the UAE government and the team has achieved notable success in various prestigious races, including stage wins and overall victories in Grand Tours (the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta a España) and one-day races.The team was temporarily suspended from the ProTour in 2010, missing one ProTour event.^[1]

Transition from an Italian-based team

Chinese involvement

In August 2016 the team (then called Lampre-Merida) confirmed that its WorldTeam licence was being transferred from CGS Cycling to Chinese company TJ Sport Consultation, with the team becoming the first Chinese WorldTour team from 2017. Former Saunier Duval–Prodir team manager Mauro Gianetti was announced as the co-ordinator for the project.^[2]

In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport the following month, Saronni confirmed that he and CGS Cycling would continue to manage the team on TJ Sport's behalf, and that the team's bicycles would be supplied by Colnago. He indicated that the project was being co-ordinated by the Chinese government via TJ Sport with involvement from a number of Chinese companies including Alibaba, and that its aim was to develop Chinese cycling and riders.^[3]

When the UCI awarded 17 WorldTour licences to teams in November, it announced that TJ Sport's application was "under review" by its Licensing Commission.^[4] According to Saronni, the reason for the delay was that the head of the TJ Sport project, Li Zhiqiang, had fallen seriously ill, which prevented funding for the project from being confirmed.

Emirati rescue

As a result, the team looked elsewhere for sponsorship, securing funding from the United Arab Emirates and changing its name to UAE Abu Dhabi. The UCI confirmed the team's WorldTour licence on 20 December.^[5] In February 2017, the team announced that airline Emirates had signed on with the team as a naming-rights sponsor. The team was subsequently known as UAE Team Emirates.^[6]

In June 2017, two days before the 2017 Tour de France the team announced it would also be sponsored by the First Abu Dhabi Bank, an amalgamation of the First Gulf Bank and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, with their logo being added to the chest and side of the team's jersey.^[7]

Team roster

As of 25 January 2024.^[8]

	Rider	Date of birth
João Almeida (POR)		(1998-08-05) 5 August 1998 (age 26)
Igor Arrieta (ESP)		(2002-12-08) December 8, 2002 (age 22)
Juan Ayuso (ESP)		(2002-09-16) 16 September 2002 (age 22)
Filippo Baroncini (ITA)		(2000-08-26) 26 August 2000 (age 24)
Sjoerd Bax (NED)		(1996-01-06) 6 January 1996 (age 28)
Mikkel Bjerg (DEN)		(1998-11-03) 3 November 1998 (age 26)
Jan Christen (SUI)		(2004-06-26) 26 June 2004 (age 20)
Alessandro Covi (ITA)		(1998-09-28) 28 September 1998 (age 26)
Isaac del Toro (MEX)		(2003-11-27) 27 November 2003 (age 21)
Finn Fisher-Black (NZL)		(2001-12-21) 21 December 2001 (age 22)
Felix Großschartner (AUT)		(1993-12-23) 23 December 1993 (age 30)
Marc Hirschi (SUI)		(1998-08-24) 24 August 1998 (age 26)
Álvaro Hodeg (COL)		(1996-09-16) 16 September 1996 (age 28)
Vegard Stake Laengen (NOR)		(1989-02-07) 7 February 1989 (age 35)
Rafał Majka (POL)		(1989-09-12) 12 September 1989 (age 35)

	Rider	Date of birth
Brandon McNulty (USA)		(1998-04-02) 2 April 1998 (age 26)
Juan Sebastián Molano (COL)		(1994-11-04) 4 November 1994 (age 30)
António Morgado (POR)		(2004-01-28) 28 January 2004 (age 20)
Domen Novak (SLO)		(1995-07-12) 12 July 1995 (age 29)
Ivo Oliveira (POR)		(1996-09-05) 5 September 1996 (age 28)
Rui Oliveira (POR)		(1996-09-05) 5 September 1996 (age 28)
Tadej Pogačar (SLO)		(1998-09-21) 21 September 1998 (age 26)
Nils Politt (GER)		(1994-03-06) 6 March 1994 (age 30)
Pavel Sivakov (FRA)		(1997-07-11) 11 July 1997 (age 27)
Marc Soler (ESP)		(1993-11-22) 22 November 1993 (age 31)
Diego Ulissi (ITA)		(1989-07-15) 15 July 1989 (age 35)
Jay Vine (AUS)		(1995-11-16) 16 November 1995 (age 29)
Michael Vink (NZL)		(1991-11-22) 22 November 1991 (age 33)
Tim Wellens (BEL)		(1991-05-10) 10 May 1991 (age 33)
Adam Yates (GBR)		(1992-08-07) 7 August 1992 (age 32)

Major wins

National, continental, and world champions

1999: Belgian Road Race, Ludo Dierckxsens
2000: South African Time Trial, Robbie Hunter; Latvian Time Trial, Raivis Belohvoščiks
2001: Latvian Time Trial, Raivis Belohvoščiks
2002: Latvian Time Trial, Raivis Belohvoščiks; Latvian Road Race, Raivis Belohvoščiks
2005: Austrian Road Race, Gerrit Glomser
2006: Italian Time Trial, Marzio Bruseghin
2007: Slovenian Road Race, Tadej Valjavec
2008: World Road Race, Alessandro Ballan
2011: Slovenian Road Race, Grega Bole; Ukrainian Road Race, Oleksandr Kvachuk; Ukrainian Time Trial, Oleksandr Kvachuk; Italian Time Trial, Adriano Malori
2014: Portuguese Time Trial, Nelson Oliveira; Portuguese Road Race, Nelson Oliveira
2015: Portuguese Time Trial, Nelson Oliveira; Ethiopian Road Race, Tsgabu Grmay; Ethiopian Time Trial, Tsgabu Grmay; Portuguese Road Race, Rui Costa; Slovenian Road Race, Luka Pibernik; Taiwanese Road Race, Feng Chun-kai; Taiwanese Time Trial, Feng Chun-kai
2017: UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza; UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza; Slovenian Time Trial, Jan Polanc; European Track (Individual pursuit), Filippo Ganna
2018: World Track (Individual pursuit), Filippo Ganna; UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza; UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza; Norwegian Road Race, Vegard Stake Laengen
2019: UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza; UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza; Slovenian Time Trial, Tadej Pogačar
2020: Slovenian Time Trial, Tadej Pogačar; Portuguese Time Trial, Ivo Oliveira; Portuguese Road Race, Rui Costa; Norwegian Road Race, Sven Erik Bystrøm; European Track (Individual pursuit), Ivo Oliveira
2021: African Time Trial, Ryan Gibbons; UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza; UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza; African Road Race, Ryan Gibbons; South Africa Time Trial, Ryan Gibbons
2022: UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza; UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza; Swiss Time Trial, Joel Suter; Portuguese Road Race, João Almeida
2023: Australian Time Trial, Jay Vine; Slovenian Time Trial, Tadej Pogačar; Slovenian Road Race, Tadej Pogačar; American Time Trial, Brandon McNulty; Portuguese Time Trial, João Almeida; Swiss Road Race, Marc Hirschi
2024: World Road Race Championships, Tadej Pogačar; American Time Trial, Brandon McNulty; Austrian Time Trial, Felix Großschartner; Belgian Time Trial, Tim Wellens; German Time Trial, Nils Politt; Portuguese Time Trial, António Morgado; Slovenian Road Race, Domen Novak

References

^ "Lampre granted temporary ProTour license - Cyclingnews.com". cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
^ "TJ Sport Consultation to take over Lampre-Merida's WorldTour licence". cyclingnews.com. 26 August 2016. Archived from the original on 2 September 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
^ Farrand, Stephen (3 September 2016). "Saronni reveals details of the new Chinese WorldTour team". cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 4 September 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
^ Farrand, Stephen (13 December 2016). "New sponsor set to save TJ Sport team after problems with Chinese backers". cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
^ "Saronni reveals how he secured UAE Abu Dhabi's WorldTour licence". cyclingnews.com. 26 December 2016. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
^ "Fly Emirates to sponsor UAE Abu Dhabi team - Cyclingnews.com". cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
^ "UAE Team Emirates brings on new sponsor ahead of Tour de France - Cyclingnews.com". cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
^ "UAE Team Emirates". UCI. Retrieved 5 January 2024.