Marc Hirschi signs for UAE-Team Emirates
Swiss star signs with team of Tadej Pogaçar on three-year deal.
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Marc Hirschi will be riding for UAE-Team Emirates through 2023.
The team confirmed Saturday that the 22-year-old talent would be joining the likes of Tadej Pogaçar, Matteo Trentin and Fernando Gaviria at the squad as it looks to continue its rise up the WorldTour ladder.
The announcement ends days of speculation after the sudden and unexpected news this week that Hirschi would be leaving Team DSM (formerly Sunweb) with one year remaining of his contract with the squad he had turned pro with in 2019.
“Firstly, I’d like to thank my previous team for everything they’ve done for me over the past three years. I am now happy to be able to say that I am joining UAE-Team Emirates. I’m really excited about the move,” Hirschi said in a press statement Saturday.
“We share the same approach and goals. The UAE team is moving in the right direction and have been growing a lot over the past years. I look forward to benefiting from that dynamic, both for the team and the development of my career.”
Alongside Pogačar, Hirschi was one of the revelations of last year’s Tour de France, where he took a stage and twice landed on the podium. He went on to back up his breakout Tour with a win at La Flèche Wallone and podium finishes at Liége-Bastogne-Liége and the world championships.
We're very happy to announce @MarcHirschi will be joining us in 2021.
Welcome to the team Marc!
Read the full press release: https://t.co/uPpBYPTPuP#UAETeamEmirates #RideTogether pic.twitter.com/ElDWPT4jlh
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamUAEAbuDhabi) January 9, 2021
The young Swiss rider is one of many top signings for the Emirati team as it looks to build out both its GC and classics roster for 2021. Rafal Majka adds further stage race firepower to the squad in 2021, while Trentin will bring classics heft alongside Hirschi and the team’s existing one-day talents Alexander Kristoff, Diego Ulissi and Davide Formolo.
Hirschi has already joined Pogačar and the rest of his new teammates at their pre-season camp in the UAE, where they recently received COVID vaccinations.
“Now I’ll turn my attention to the training camp and getting to know everybody and settling in,” he said. “This will be my first time ever visiting the UAE so I look forward to discovering the country.”