‘I feel like they know how strong I am, so they don’t let me go anymore’ – UAE talent Jan Christen battling his own attacking instincts in pursuit of full potential

Rising Swiss talent Jan Christen is one of only four riders with the luxury of being contracted on UAE Team Emirates-XRG, cycling’s top team, until 2030, alongside two Spanish teenagers – Pablo Torres and Adrià Pericas – and world champion Tadej Pogačar.

Despite this certain future, though, Christen knows he has serious improvements to make if he’s to extract his full potential and not fall down the pecking order among UAE’s near-overflow of stars that also includes Isaac del Toro and João Almeida.

Christen was the recipient of a very public dressing down by one of his teammates, Mikkel Bjerg, earlier this season, after his instinctive attacking style left the Dane criticising him on Danish TV2 at the Tour de Suisse.

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“No, I was very surprised that he attacked, but good to see he had good legs,” said Bjerg to TV2 when asked if he was expecting Christen’s move on stage 2 that ultimately came to nothing.

“[It’s] a bit sad he doesn’t know how to help us, but that’s how it is.”

If he’s to become a key cog during his long stint on UAE, which the team will be hoping for after extending the 21-year-old’s contract to 2030, Christen knows very well that he’ll sometimes have to rein it in. Though his natural propensity to attack when he feels the moment is right could prove hard to overcome.

“It’s not easy, I like to race with the instinct and try something, not waiting too much for the final,” he told Cyclingnews before stage 4 of the Tour of Guangxi.

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“But I’ve started to feel like the guys know how strong I am, so they don’t let me go anymore. I also need to learn a bit more from the other guys and listen, and for sure I can make next year a lot of victories.”

UAE have been the site of some well-known internal battles in recent years amid their employment of many of the top riders and top up-and-coming riders in the world, such as Juan Ayuso and Isaac del Toro at this year’s Giro, or Ayuso and Almeida at last year’s Tour, when the latter had to shout at the former to come take a pull up the Col du Galibier.

Christen doesn’t seem to be making his sometimes rash moves purely out of rivalry with those competing for the same race calendar, but does genuinely appear to be at the mercy of his own internal need to light things up when an opportunity presents itself.

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It’s got him two wins so far in 2025, alongside some top results like second at the Clásica San Sebastián and a strong week with five top-10 finishes at the Tour of Poland. He obviously wants more, but has had several run-ins with illness, alongside breaking his collarbone, which have stunted his progress during only his second year as a WorldTour rider.

“It was a nice year and we’ve had a lot of victories, which has been amazing,” he said.

“For me, I had a bit of bad luck, some crashes, but also broke my collarbone and had some sickness, but in the end I also won two races and was part of many victories with the team, so I’m already looking forward to the next year.

“I’m happy how I could improve also this year and looking forward to making another step in the winter and then be even more successful.”

Fighting for leadership at UAE

Even with his long-term future secured, Christen isn’t just going to use that to sit back – it’s victories that he wants. In China, Jhonatan Narváez is UAE’s best-placed rider on GC heading into the queen stage 5 on Saturday to NongLa, but Christen didn’t rule out several moves being made by the top-ranked team, with the objective simply being a UAE win, not necessarily a Narváez win.

“It’s relaxing to be signed until 2030 in one way, but I also want to win races; however, it does give me a lot of confidence that the team has in me and the future with the team,” Christen told Cyclingnews.

“I don’t know exactly how much shape is. I’ve raced a lot the last eight weeks, but with Jonny, we have the big favourite here, and also Felix [Großschartner] and I are in good condition. In the end, it’s about playing our cards right and making sure one of us wins.”

For 2026, Christen won’t know his exact goals until UAE head to training camp and confirm them in December or January, but he wants the one-day and one-week racing arenas to be his key objective, alongside hopefully making his Grand Tour debut.

“We will see, I’m liking a lot of the one-day races like Flèche, Amstel and San Sebastian,” he said, when asked about goals for next season. “For sure, it would be nice to do my first Grand Tour and set even another level for the upcoming year, but my main focus will be for sure on the one-week stage races and one-day races.”