'We want to beat that' – UAE muses about beating their own stage win record from 2025 Vuelta

Despite a tumultuous start to the Giro d'Italia, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has remarkably secured three stage victories. This achievement comes despite the significant setback of losing three key riders due to a stage two crash, severely impacting their initial GC aspirations. The team's management, notably, has already set an ambitious target for the 2025 Vuelta a España, expressing a desire to surpass their own stage win record in that race.

This current Giro performance, while not the GC triumph initially envisioned, underscores UAE's profound depth and resilience, even when plans unravel. Their ability to pivot from overall ambitions to stage hunting, and succeed, highlights a strategic flexibility few teams possess. Furthermore, setting a public target for 2025, even amidst a current Grand Tour, reflects a relentless, almost insatiable, drive for dominance that has become characteristic of the WorldTour's leading outfit.

Such is the modern landscape of professional cycling: even when winning, the focus immediately shifts to winning more. One can almost hear the accountants sharpening their pencils for next season's bonuses.