Read UAE Team Emirates’ press release ahead of the 2019 Vuelta a España and you’d have no idea what a watershed moment it was to prove for cycling.

A 45-second video announcing the team’s eight-man squad, set to a progressive trance track that has just over 6,000 plays on Spotify and a mere 56 on YouTube, put Fabio Aru, winner of the 2015 Vuelta, front and centre.

“For the general classification there will be Fabio Aru, whose condition has grown a lot and approaches the Vuelta with great concentration and determination,” the team’s sports manager, Joxean Matxin, said. Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria was also singled out, who, Matxin said, “we know can do well there.”

The penultimate rider presented in the video was a baby-faced 20-year-old by the name of Tadej Pogačar. Rather understating his prodigiousness, he was described as just “talented”.

At least Matxin went on to add that Pogačar was selected for his maiden Grand Tour “after proving that he is not only a contender for the future but for the present also.”

It was the only on-the-money prediction in the communiqué. Aru would go home on stage 13 and Gaviria would only contest one bunch sprint. Pogačar would ride to third overall, claim three stage victories and win the jersey for best young rider.

“We knew he was a talent, and we knew he would have a good result at the Vuelta, but honestly, probably nobody expected that he could find himself on the podium at the end,” Marco Marcato, Pogačar’s 2019 Vuelta teammate and his 2026 Vuelta sports director, tells The Athletic.

The title of the line-up video’s soundtrack? “You don’t know.”

A wonderfully prescient title. For no one knew that it was to be the start of the Tadej Pogačar dynasty.

This article was published in The Athletic/New York Times during the 2026 Vuelta a España. You can read the full article here.