Joshua Tarling and Sam Welsford lead INEOS Grenadiers' UAE Tour lineup in search of stage wins
Cycling
INEOS Grenadiers have revealed their lineup for the 2026 UAE Tour and it is a team that mostly consists of young riders that the team is giving opportunities to. However, the British team can very well chase stage wins, as they make it to the Middle East with Joshua Tarling and Sam Welsford in their '7'.
The Australian sprinter was one of the most notable signings this winter, and also one of the latter ones. At the Tour Down Under he managed to take his maiden stage win with the team, greatly assisted at the time by Ben Swift. The winning combination has moved into the UAE now, although the team may not have as strong of a leadout as other rival teams.
Whilst Welsford is battling for the sprints, in the race's individual time trial, Joshua Tarling may be the only rider who can realistically battle Remco Evenepoel. In a 12-kilometer long effort, better suited to the Briton, we can't exclude such a surprise.
Connor Swift is going to be assisting the team on the leadouts and with positioning throughout the week where necessary, likely the same as American time trial champion Artem Shmidt. When it comes to the overall classification, the team is going to most likely give freedom to Scandinavian duo Peter Oxenberg and Embret Svestad-Bardseng to pursue their own results in a high-level World Tour race.
If the wind does not play a role in the race, then this one will be decided in the small time trial on stage 2, but mostly in the summit finishes to Jebel Mobrah and Jebel Hafeet. The previous is a new addition to the race and is an extremely difficult climb that will coincide with the finale of the third stage.
INEOS Grenadiers for 2026 UAE Tour
| Nr. | Name |
| 1 | Peter Oxenberg |
| 2 | Artem Shmidt |
| 3 | Ben Swift |
| 4 | Connor Swift |
| 5 | Joshua Tarling |
| 6 | Sam Welsford |
| 7 | Embret Svestad-Bårdseng |
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
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- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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