Whatever happened to the first-ever UAE Team Emirates roster?
Whatever happened to the first-ever UAE Team Emirates roster?
The squad of Tadej Pogačar are now viewed as the best in the world but it wasn't always like that...
They are arguably one of the best teams we’ve seen in the modern era, and with 80 wins this season, the most talented rider in the world in Tadej Pogačar, and some of the brightest young riders in their stable, UAE Team Emirates have become a cycling dynasty.
However, it wasn’t always that way. When the team were handed the final UCI WorldTour licence on December 20, 2016, the inaugural roster was a mishmash of Lampre Merida riders and late signings from rival squads and the lower divisions.
The team finished the 2017 season with a respectable 15 wins and were 12th in the UCI rankings.
Their Grand Tour ambitions rested on Louis Meintjes and Jan Polanc, while Rui Costa and Diego Ulissi flew the flag in the weeklong stage races and Classics. Filippo Ganna was a baby-faced neo-pro and the riders raced on Colnago C60s with rim brakes.
Seven years on from that debut team the roster has completely changed. Only Ulissi and one other rider remain on the books in 2024, while the rest of the squad has split into several different directions, from moving other teams to retirement and sports director roles.
In this feature, we’ve rolled the clock back to 2017, picked the complete 29-rider UAE Team Emirates roster and looked at how their careers panned out.
Anass Aït El Abdia 🇲🇦
The Morrocon rider joined on a two-year deal at the start of the 2017 season. He was a decent pick to be fair, having raced in Europe, South America and Africa, and with starts in the Tour de l’Avenir and the Rio Olympics. He won the Tour du Maroc in his first year on the squad and made the Vuelta a España roster that same season.
However, he couldn’t make it past the second stage and to be honest WorldTour racing was just a tier too high for him in the end. Since then Anass Aït El Abdia had stints at several teams including the Bahrain Academy and he’s currently racing for the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club. Now 31, he’s still picking up results and this year he finished with a top ten in Al Salam Championship.
Darwin Atapuma 🇨🇴
The Colombian shot to fame at BMC Racing, where he made a name for himself with a series of long-range kamikaze attacks. His antics netted him a stage in the Tour de Suisse and almost a stage in the Tour de France. He made the top ten at the Giro d’Italia in 2016 and it wasn’t long before UAE Team Emirates came calling with a big offer and a two-year deal. His time at BMC Racing was the pinnacle of his career, and unfortunately, that was as good as it got for the climber.
He didn’t race for UAE Team Emirates again after the Tour in 2018 and quickly fell down the pecking order, with a poor year at Cofidis leading to a return to Colombia in 2020. He eventually hung up his wheels in 2023 having barely raced that season. His Instagram tells us that he’s currently an ambassador for 4Life Colombia - a company that sells dietary supplements, while his pinned Tweet is a series of photos of him leading the Vuelta a España, which he did for four days back in 2016. Cute.
We reached out to him via Instagram and the Colombian kindly responded, saying: “Now I don't have anything and I'm enjoying my family at home in Colombia.”