UAE Team Emirates is tightening security around Tadej Pogačar, adding a motorcycle escort on select training rides after rising fan and amateur cyclist incidents in Europe’s busiest training zones.
Tadej Pogačar will now train with a motorcycle escort, as UAE Team Emirates moves to tighten security around its star rider following recent incidents involving fans and amateur cyclists.
Team sports manager Joxean Fernández Matxin confirmed the measure in comments to Spanish outlet AS, explaining that a motorcycle now rides behind Pogačar during certain training sessions.
The decision follows a series of tense encounters in popular European training zones, where social media content seekers have increasingly ridden alongside professionals.
In January, Jonas Vingegaard crashed during a training ride while being followed by an amateur cyclist. Days later, Pogačar described an uncomfortable exchange with a fan attempting to capture a selfie mid ride.
According to Matxin, the team witnessed “very complicated situations” during its winter camp in Alicante, with riders filming in the middle of open roads shared with traffic.
UAE now trains in smaller groups to allow vehicles to pass safely, but the escort motorcycle is intended to ensure those formations remain controlled and that outside riders do not swell the group.
It remains unclear whether the same protection applies to Pogačar’s solo rides near his home base on the Côte d’Azur.
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