A golden statue of Tadej Pogačar was unveiled on Saturday in front of the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club in the UAE, as cycling's top team – UAE Team Emirates-XRG – celebrated another historic season.
The team's big stars, including World Champion Pogačar, were present in their home nation this past weekend to meet and ride out with fans, sponsors and the local cycling community, as part of their end-of-season celebrations at Al Hudayriat Island Circuit.
While the team set a new record of 95 wins in the season and 97 victories in the calendar year of 2025, Pogačar was once again the main event, managing 20 wins himself, which included three Monuments, a second consecutive world title in Rwanda and a defence of his Tour de France title and so a fourth yellow jersey.
The statue shows the Slovenian during his bowing celebration, which he's brought out several times throughout his 103 career victories, notably at Cauterets-Cambasque, after beating Jonas Vingegaard on stage 6 of the 2023 Tour de France, atop Isola 2000 at the 2024 Tour, and after dominating a double ascent of Monte Grappa at the 2024 Giro d'Italia.
Having joined UAE in 2019 and started his WorldTour career as a 21-year-old, Pogačar has developed into their outright leader, arguably the greatest cyclist of all time and an iconic figure in the Emirati nation's small but growing cycling scene, with more than 1,000 people coming out to meet him and his teammates at the weekend.
Riders have long been honoured with statues, from iconic Spanish climber Federico Bahamontes in Toledo, Nairo Quintana in Colombia, and Tom Boonen's legs on the Taaienberg, with Pogačar now joining them.
Now into the off-season, Pogačar will be looking to reset before he kicks on into another season of expected dominance in 2026, where he could match the record of five Tour de France victories held by the greats of Merckx, Hinault, Indurain and Anquetil and match Peter Sagan's World Championships hat-trick.
