'It's hard to grow if you're not a superstar' - Why Finn Fisher-Black left UAE Emirates, the best team in the world

While it's hard enough to stand out as a talent in cycling in an era of generational stars and ever-younger super talents, that job becomes even more difficult when they are your teammates. For Finn Fisher-Black, that became his experience at UAE Team Emirates, with more and more emerging prospects making roster spots at the biggest races even harder to come by. 

Despite their unequivocal status as 'The best team in the world', whether you measure it by UCI ranking, race wins in 2024, total budget or calibre of riders, of which they have the number-one - Tadej Pogačar, UAE's wealth of talent can prove problematic.

Fisher-Black signed in 2021 after the Emirati team outbid Jumbo-Visma for the rider they'd developed in-house on their under-23 team. Back then, he was touted as a top young talent and at 23, it's certainly a description that could still fit the Kiwi. 

However, when your team's crop of young riders includes the likes of Juan Ayuso, 22, who podiumed his first Vuelta a España at 19, Isaac del Toro, 21, who won his first WorldTour race on just the second attempt last season, and Antonio Morgado, 20, who came fifth at a hellish edition of the Tour of Flanders on debut, it's quite the task to prove yourself.

After four years of struggling to reach his potential, missing out on racing Grand Tours and feeling as though his growth has stagnated, Fisher-Black has left the 'best cycling team in the world' for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, in the hope of pastures new.

"I think it just gets very populated, they're fortunate to have so much talent. It was hard to show that you were good enough to be there sometimes because everyone's trying to do their best and everyone has their own ambitions," Fisher-Black told Cyclingnews and The Cycling Podcast at Red Bull's December training camp.

"Everyone there is at such a good level that can win races. That's the problem I was running into. There are a lot of people that had ambitions there and it's hard to grow when you're a young rider if you're not a superstar.

"Some of these guys, like Ayuso, Del Toro, these guys coming through now, they're absolute superstars and they're going to achieve great things, I'm sure. But when you're not on that level of trajectory, it's hard to break through into the into the sole leadership roles of that team." 

Aside from the young talent, there are also the established leaders who were guaranteed lockout for a spot at the key WorldTour races. Pogačar, Adam Yates, Tim Wellens, Brandon McNulty, João Almeida, the list goes on and Fisher-Black was not near the top of it, be that on the road in-race or in selection. 

"There's obviously that top tier of the guys in that team that will go to the races and be number one," Fisher-Black continued. "For me, it was hard to kind of find my place."

Getting back to Grand Tour racing

No Grand Tour being offered to him in 2024 was another big motivator for the change of team. He's only raced one in his career, at the 2023 Vuelta, and the Kiwi is desperate to get back to the three-week arena to test his limits. 

"I was looking for some more opportunities and I missed out on a Grand Tour this year on UAE, so that was a big motive for me to realise that maybe it was time to leave. I want to find the most out of myself, and I think that's by doing the biggest races," explained Fisher-Black.

"At the Vuelta in 2023 I kind of showed myself quite a bit, and that's where I started to feel like I was a bit more recognised in the World Tour by the public, but also just by my peers. 

"The Grand Tours are the biggest stage of World Tour cycling and they're the place for me to scale and grow. There are so many different things you can do within a GT as well: GC, go for stages or just be a domestique, and I'm here for any of them. I just want to be back in a grand tour and fighting for it."

He's set to kick off his 2025 season and time at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe with a general classification bid at the Tour Down Under, before heading to Europe and racing at a mix of one-week stage races and the Ardennes Classics. Then, despite not knowing which one when speaking in December, he should be back at a Grand Tour.

After impressing with three pro wins in 2024, most notably at the Muscat Classic and a stage at the Tour of Oman, Fisher-Black unlocked some new punch that can bring him more victories if harnessed properly. And if his recent training efforts back home in New Zealand are anything to go off, he should be in flying form when he gets to race up Willunga Hill on January 25.

"I think this year, really, I was finding out more about myself at the beginning of the year, I realised I do have this punch to me which I really try to utilise and I think, now, I've found a way I can win races, and I'm really trying to dial into that," said Fisher-Black. 

"For example at the Tour Down Under, the Ardennes and all these one-week GC races. To really hone into that punchy finish and punchy finals, that's what I'll try to focus on next year and getting to as many finals as I can to see what I can do."

After joining the German team, Fisher-Black will now have enjoyed the services and operations of three of cycling's best-run and richest teams in a seven-year period. Is this latest stint at Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe going to see the Kiwi find his best form yet?