One key statistic shows Visma and UAE still lead the way - Vingegaard and Pogacar's rivalry still drives two teams in cycling's biggest races
Cycling
UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike's rivalry over the past six years have seen the two teams dominate the UCI rankings as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard's battles impacting much more than the riders themselves. But over the past 18 months, other teams have been trying to butt in.
Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe and Lidl-Trek are among the leading teams who have made no secret of their intentions to break the two teams' monopoly on cycling's top tables.
In fact, Red Bull did just that on paper as they finished in second place ahead of Visma - while Decathlon CMA CGM and Lidl-Trek are in pursuit behind the Dutch team.
However, one key statistic has pointed towards both Visma and UAE still dominating in the place that matters - Grand Tours. Not only did both teams win a three-week race, but their fingerprints are all over all three of cycling's biggest races.
Visma | Lease a Bike celebrate the stage win
Visma and UAE take most Grand Tour stage wins
When it comes to Grand Tour stage victories, both Visma and UAE lead the lines by some distance with 14 and 13 victories respectively. Their tallies are some way ahead of the rest of the WorldTour teams - with Soudal Quick-Step the next closest with seven Grand Tour wins.
Visma bested UAE thanks to their strong Giro and Vuelta campaigns. In the Corsa Rosa, Jonas Vingegaard led the lines with five stage wins on the way to the Maglia Rosa while Sepp Kuss also won the queen stage. In a quiet Tour, many forget that Visma won the opening team time trial.
Their 2026 Grand Tour campaign saw them dominate the Vuelta as Matthew Brennan took five stage wins and Wout van Aert added two more as the team took one-third of the stages on offer.
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Pogacar leads UAE Grand Tour wins
For UAE, Tadej Pogacar unsurprisingly was responsible for several of their Grand Tour stage wins - winning five at the Tour and three at the Vuelta before his season-ending crash. Their other marquee victory came at the Tour with Isaac del Toro.
At the Giro, the Emirati squad had Jhonatan Narvaez to thank for a successful campaign as he took three stage wins as well as Igor Arrieta's breakout victory.
Soudal are in third place with seven stage wins. Elsewhere, new WorldTour team Uno-X Mobility took four wins including at least one in all three races. Despite impressive seasons, Lidl-Trek and Red Bull took two stage wins and rank in eighth and ninth.
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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- maybe we should put our cv at the end of each comment post ... same rights for all of us!Ketterechts01-11-2026
- hahah literally all it is. Glad im not the only one noticing, essentially this is just a blog as it is now. Run buy boys from their bedroom hehe Their very subjective aswell, people on twitter even said their pure visma fanboys, if you listen to Ruben silva guy pre TDF this year all he said turned out to be wrong and constantly fail to realize visma isnt where they was before roster wice or means to contest even RBH or Lidl anymore, ,very biased ppl and when you run ''news articles that way its problematic..miguel01-11-2026
- The new joke of the year in 2027: "If both guys (Pogi and Seixas) finish upright on their bikes and both don't get sick for some reason, I think Paul will fight Tadej to the end and will possibly beat him in 2027 at the Tour, yes, I just said that." ... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...PogiSloFans01-11-2026
- Cutting his suit up and getting him to sign it while quite seriously injured is absolutely ghoulishwrsty01-11-2026
- 24 years old?Ketterechts01-11-2026
- Hey @frieder3, yeah sure, bull crap. What experience? You have no eyperience, you're an amateur cyclist... and to make things even worse, you're a lousy amateur cyclist. So what you're saying about your C7 has no relevance... do you even know where C7 is in your body? No, it's not in your knee!!! PS: Trump loves ya... 😍😍😍PogiSloFans01-11-2026
- He won't have a neck problem until he's older and arthritis kicks in lil guy !frieders301-11-2026
- Yep I find any way possible to not have other listen to Bob and VandeVelde commenting on a bike race. His annoying wrong predictions and irritating chuckle are mute worthy!frieders301-11-2026
- 20 winners for 3rd year in a row!Lozza31-10-2026
- peak power minimum weight- 2025 they managed it, 2026 they overdid it leaving her empty. Upto Roubaix it is power and then they start reducing weight leading to the TDF. How much and how fast with a larger degree of uncertainty with weight means you cannot really approach it with surety that it will always work.abstractengineer31-10-2026
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