{"id":955206,"date":"2026-11-02T06:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T06:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/955206\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T06:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T06:36:10","slug":"uae-emirates-xrg-went-all-out-for-an-exceptional-climber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/955206\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE Emirates-XRG went all out for an “exceptional climber”"},"content":{"rendered":"

If reports from the Czech Republic are to be believed, UAE Emirates-XRG<\/a> has signed a potential new star in V\u00e1clav Je\u017eek. The 21-year-old rider competed for Kasper crypto4me in 2026, where he impressed in multiple disciplines. UAE Emirates-XRG, where Je\u017eek will start out on the development team, didn\u2019t even have to dig too deep into its pockets.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"pogacar-del-toro\"\/<\/p>\n

Tadej Pogacar and Isaac del Toro<\/p>\n

Joxean Matxin and Mauro Gianetti played a key role in Je\u017eek\u2019s arrival, according to his agent Franti\u0161ek Rabo\u0148 in an interview with Idnes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Spanish sports director at UAE has frequently demonstrated decisiveness when it comes to top talent in recent years, and this time was no exception. His overall victory in the Tour of Greece in May proved to be the catalyst.<\/p>\n

“After Greece, UAE reached out to CEO Gianetti and Matxin,” is what we\u2019re hearing. And that\u2019s striking, because the two normally leave the scouting to others. They only get directly involved in top-tier transfers. So Je\u017eek was high on the wish list.<\/p>\n

“From the very beginning, they spoke highly of him and highlighted the performance he could deliver in the third and fourth hours of a race.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Je\u017eek joins the UAE Emirates-XRG development team<\/p>\n

Je\u017eek was wildly enthusiastic, but his agent kept him grounded, even when a deal was being negotiated with Gianetti and Matxin. UAE explained that Je\u017eek is expected to become a top climber on the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven his background in cyclocross, it\u2019s hard to believe he could be such an exceptional climber. UAE even wanted to move him straight into the WorldTour core.\u201d<\/p>\n

Je\u017eek, however, is taking it easy and will first take his time getting used to his new surroundings at UAE Team Emirates Gen Z.<\/p>\n

He also signed a one-year contract to see if the team lives up to its promises. This means that Je\u017eek will have the opportunity to ride with the WorldTour team for about half of his race schedule.<\/p>\n

“UAE is fully confident that he will secure a contract in 2027 that covers the years beyond. They view him as an immense talent and a diamond in the rough,” said the agent, who emphasised that riders on the development team all receive the same salary.<\/p>\n

Je\u017eek reached an agreement after two weeks and signed on, partly because Gianetti and Matxin remained closely involved throughout the entire process.<\/p>\n

Read more below the photo<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

UAE Emirates-XRG proved\u00a0its reputation as a talent scout<\/p>\n

And that commitment was the deciding factor\u2014much more so than money.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany teams complain that UAE has a big budget and can sign whoever they want. On the contrary; UAE has actually shown a proactive approach and actively seeks out talented riders, including lesser-known ones. They could easily have waited another year and poached him from another team, but they want to develop him themselves.\u201d- Franti\u0161ek Rabo\u0148,\u00a0V\u00e1clav Je\u017eek’s agentHis Belgian coach, Pieter Timmermans<\/a> \u2014the man who took Je\u017eek under his wing a year ago\u2014is also delighted. Together, they\u2019ve made great strides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe move to UAE Gen Z is a smart choice. He didn\u2019t go for the most financially attractive offer or the one that drew the most media attention. He could easily have signed a two-year contract with a World Tour team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If reports from the Czech Republic are to be believed, UAE Emirates-XRG has signed a potential new star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,137025,225903,82,1422,129545],"class_list":["post-955206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-cycling-transfers","tag-latest-cycling-news","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}