Winning the Tour de France for the sixth time with Tadej Pogačar is the inevitable and mandatory objective of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG for 2027, but there is an even more ambitious and grandiose dream: to triumph in all three Grand Tours in a single season. Just like the unprecedented feat achieved by Visma in 2023, when they took home the Giro d'Italia with Primož Roglič, the Tour de France with Jonas Vingegaard, and the Vuelta a España with Sepp Kuss (who notably finished ahead of both his teammates). This was explicitly stated by Joxean Fernández 'Matxin' to the microphones of Eurosport's Spanish division.

LIKE VISMA

The image of Roglic in pink, Vingegaard in yellow, and Kuss in red at the start of the final stage of the 2023 Vuelta, conquered by surprise by the American, who until then had been a luxury domestique for the Slovenian and the Dane, has remained etched in cycling history and in the collective imagination of cycling enthusiasts. The three Grand Tours in a single season was an objective carefully studied by the yellow-and-black team and remains a dream yet to be fulfilled for the current team at the top of the UCI rankings, UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Speaking to Eurosport Spain, sporting director Matxin certainly did not hide that emulating the feat of their rivals is the great ambition for 2027: «What do I desperately desire at this moment? I won't lie to you, what Visma achieved: winning the Giro, the Tour, and the Vuelta in the same year. I think it could happen every year, but I don't know why it has never happened. Could it already happen in 2027? I hope so, I believe every year could be the right one».

Certainly, the riders are not lacking: world number one Tadej Pogačar is expected at the Tour de France to claim his sixth victory and establish himself at the top of the all-time winners' ranking, while Isaac Del Toro could return to the Giro d'Italia – the programs will be officially unveiled in December during the team retreat. «Riders like Del Toro and Pogačar will be favorites in every race they start. But what I can guarantee is that we will have a balanced team, a season in which everyone will have their opportunities», he stated.

Certainly, the Mexican could aim for the pink jersey to reclaim what slipped away in 2025 at the Sestriere, after Simon Yates' feat that "defended" Visma's achievement from two years earlier, followed by Pogacar's Tour-Vuelta double. To complete the trifecta, according to Matxin, crashes and injuries remain the most unpredictable variable: «This season we've had really bad luck with accidents. We've had 78 of them. 18 of our 30 riders have suffered injuries. I believe that all these circumstances and difficulties have made us stronger and pushed us to improve». Obviously, the most significant and painful one occurred precisely to Pogacar at the Vuelta.