Milan: UAE Team Emirates’ Slovenian rider Jan Polanc finished 11th in the general classification of the 100th Giro d’Italia on Sunday while Dutchman Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb took overall honours.
The Giro is one of three three-week Grand Tours that include the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana, and this year it ran 3,600-km for 21 stages from Alghero to Milan.
In total UAE Team Emirates got one stage win (via Polanc in stage four), four seconds, five podiums and 14 top 10 finishes.
“This is a Giro to remember for me,” said Polanc, who also won a stage and held the blue jersey for leading the mountain classification for three stages back in 2015. “I thought nothing could be as great as my first stage victory in 2015 but I was wrong,” he added.
This year he won a stage and held the blue jersey for eight stages.
“My win on Mount Etna was an unbelievably incredible moment for me. Wearing and retaining the blue jersey for a few stages in a row made me even more determined to do well.
“My performance improved with every stage and I managed to finish the Giro in the upper part of the overall general classification, which was very difficult as the competition was fierce.
“I think in the future I’d like to try and focus my attention on Grand Tours and get into the general classification top ten. Placing 11th overall is a really good achievement, seeing as this was my first time battling for a place in the upper part of the general classification. Happy cannot begin to describe how I feel.”
UAE Team Emirates was the youngest World Tour team to take part in the Giro with the average age of the squad being 26 years.
The team’s sports director Orlando Maini said: “One victory and four second places — an impressive performance from our young riders and the team’s constant presence in the most important breakaways is the team’s 100th Giro d’Italia in a nutshell. We are quite satisfied with the results overall. We set out with a few goals at the beginning of the race and I feel that some of those have been met. This was UAE Team Emirates’ debut at the Giro and we tried to honour the commitment to do well for the whole nation and our sponsors.”
UAE Team Emirates will race at the Hammer Series from June 2, the Critérium du Dauphiné from June 4 and the Tour de Suisse from June 10. The next Grand Tour will be the Tour de France which will take place from July 1-23.
