“Rui Costa faced a new challenge in his long and successful career. Rui is a former world champion and has achieved great results, so see convert that talent and experience in supporting the team and a leader like Tadej Pogacar, as he did on the Tour, in which he played an important role, we know we can trust him,” said Joxean Fernández 'Matxín', director of UAE Emirates.

Rui Costa, 34 years old, arrived at UAE Emirates, after stints at Lampre-Merida, Movistar, Caisse d'Epargne and Benfica, having as main achievements the long-distance world title in 2013, three editions of the Tour to Switzerland (2012, 2013 and 2014) and the Tour de Abu Dhabi (2017), in addition to three stage victories of the Tour de France.

In the same statement, the team of Slovenian and two-time Volta a França champion Tadej Pogacar, who has Portuguese brothers Ivo Oliveira and Rui Oliveira and has hired João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep) for the next five seasons, announced the renewals with Fernando Gaviria, Alessandro Covi and Jan Polanc. Colombian sprinter Fernando Gaviria and Slovenian Jan Polanc signed contracts valid for the year 2022, while Italian Alessandro Covi signed a contract until 2024.

https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2021-08-23/covid-19-portugal-update-23-august/61930