Joxean Fernandez, almost universally called Matxin, is one of the sport's best-known sporting managers. He came through the Spanish cycling scene and made his reputation as a recruiter and race builder, with an eye for teenagers and under-23 riders who could become Grand Tour or Classics stars.
At UAE Emirates-XRG he has become the sporting counterweight to the executive layer: the person most closely associated with roster design, long-range talent identification, and the mix of climbers, rouleurs, and classics riders around Pogacar. His fingerprints are visible in the team's willingness to bet early on riders such as Isaac del Toro and to surround its leaders with riders who can win for themselves.
In Tour terms, Matxin matters because the eight riders on the start line are the visible end of years of scouting and role-fitting. UAE does not only buy horsepower; it builds redundancy, which is why the team can lose or rest big names and still arrive with a frightening mountain train.
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The squad
Joxean Fernandez Matxin is part of the UAE Emirates-XRG story at the 2026 Tour — see the full team page.