PEDAL PUNDITRY #23 - UAE Team Emirates, the 2026 Giro d'Italia and the mystery rider

December always provides a frenzy of news regarding the top riders' schedules and goals for the 2026 season. At UAE Team Emirates - XRG's story, an interesting story regarding the Giro d'Italia and a mystery rider developed. João Almeida would lead the race at the Italian Grand Tour, but who joins him?

In December every year, the Costa Blanca in Spain becomes a hotspot for the cycling web. Teams, riders, staff, journalists and most people who in some shape or form are part of the sport in a professional way get together in a small region of Iberic peninsula known for its sunny weather, calm roads and beautiful sceneries.

Hence, as has been the case since last December, I got on a plane to Valencia on the 11th, arriving just in time for the presentation of Movistar Team. Beautiful, a nice show, but when it comes to serious matters - talking to the riders, getting 'the scoop' (by that, I refer to getting exclusive information) the job at hand was chaotic.

For the fans, wonderful, as the likes of Enric Mas and Cian Uijtdebroeks walked through the hallways of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Valencia with young kids and fans getting their own highlight of the week by getting a picture and an autograph.

For those looking to talk to the riders, harder. But an enjoyable experience nonetheless. Come Friday, Lidl-Trek's 'reunion room' marathon was the complete opposite. 4 hours in a small room, in which every 30 minutes someone would jokingly comment on the impossible-to-ignore scent of sweat. "That's what you get when you put 15 men in a closed room together", Mads Pedersen joked.

That number seemingly went down as the afternoon passed by, with the number of journalists growing smaller and smaller, as some would talk to riders outside the room, and some would leave. By the end only myself and Cyclism'Actu's Titouan Labourie remained - eager to talk to Tao Geoghegan Hart, the last scheduled rider, whom ultimately we did not get a chance to talk to.

Fast forward to Saturday, 13th December. The 'big day', with UAE Team Emirates - XRG's multi-million euro setup located just outside the tourism-guided town of Benidorm. Tadej Pogacar, João Almeida, Isaac del Toro, and just about two dozen other riders who were in the spotlight throughout the 2025 season, who have greatly contributed to the record number of 97 victories. Impressive I would say, so with no surprise, attendance numbers are through the roof.

As the difficult-to-manage set of conferences and interview circles begin, João Almeida takes to the stage first at 14:45 local time to discuss his objectives, ambitions, schedule for 2026 and everything else that would be deemed interesting. Daniel Benson asked first, directly about the Portuguese's schedule. Almeida responded promptly, revealing that surprisingly, he was to take part in the 2026 Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España.

No Tour de France, despite his friendship with Tadej Pogacar. Almeida would get the leading role at the Corsa Rosa, the race where two years ago, he finished on the podium of a Grand Tour - and whose victory at Monte Bondone continues to live on my memory very presently until today.

As Almeida walked away from the comically large table in front of him, me and Eurosport/TopCycling's Gonçalo Moreira walked with him to a remote corner of the room to inquire him in Portuguese. Next up, press officer George Poole would approach me and in his ever-friendly style, tell me that Rui Oliveira is in the other room and I have the space to go talk to him.

The conversation with Rui follows takes place. Halfway through his twin brother Ivo shows up, although the two are now much more distinguishable than when they first joined the team. Light-hearted conversations gave way to a good amount of time spent in the bar area.

Afterwards (after António Morgado, but I will get to that), returning to the main press room, Isaac del Toro's press conference had finished. Curiously, only a few minutes before. And whilst I was sitting in the room next to the Mexican's, I was completely unaware that he was revealing his schedule including a Tour de France debut, and his full calendar for the spring and summer of 2026.

When I learnt about it, dozens of thousands of people on X (formerly known as Twitter, yes it is necessary to write this) already knew this info and were talking about it. An interesting aspect of this 'new media'. I am part of it, I guess, but today was an interesting reminder of how more traditional news outlets and experienced journalists must feel.

Of course, Del Toro's presence at the Tour was known to me. Although Almeida did not say where his teammate would be when I asked him during the press conference, the answer was obvious, and in a more private environment he did confirm that to me. Part of the game, I know perfectly the riders have to be professional and not talk in the name of their teammates.

Then António Morgado comes along, a different personality than the Oliveira twins - specially Ivo, a more reserved rider, but tremendously talented, and confident too in what he can achieve in 2026. He will be training with Javier Sola, Tadej Pogacar's coach... That is perhaps a hint of what to expect.

During the conversation with the incredibly talented youngster, he revealed to me and Gonçalo that he would race the Giro d'Italia, his first Grand Tour. Big news, of course. And he would race with Almeida. He shared that Adam Yates was in the lineup, Jan Christen, Igor Arrieta and also Florian Vermeersch. Six riders.

In the interest of getting 'the scoop', knowing through ProCyclingStats, social media and my peers that the Giro lineup hadn't been revealed. I entered a pursuit to know the two names that were still missing. Part of being a young and upcoming writer, eager to prove myself, I guess. But I'm genuinely interested in this, and is perhaps the most burning question every time I start talking to a rider at this time of year.

What followed, amongst many conversations and interesting moments, was an hours-long pursuit to learn about who those two riders were. At some point during the inquiries, I happened to walk across Jay Vine, whom I asked. Jay confirmed it to me: He was one.

We have seven riders. One more and it will make for a publication I can be very proud of, and managing to get fully exclusive information that colleagues with decades of years of experience and contacts beyond what I can dream of, have gotten.

I talked to many renowned journalists... Daniel Benson, Chris Marshall-Bell, Stefano Rizzato... Names that are at the very top of what we do and whom I cannot compare myself with. They didn't know either. The aforementioned Moreira, Gustav Volstrup, and Titouan Labourie were all part of my insistent questions.

George Poole of course, and Luke Maguire, who 'ran the show', were not able to tell me. Joxean Matxin, he wanted to respect the privacy of the riders and wouldn't want to be the one revealing it to me. Understandable. So I talked to the riders... Jan Christen was another one that I managed to run across and ask, but he did not know either.

Me and Titouan made a list and made a shortlist. Information from both of us, and what is known publicly, narrowed the list down to three names: Felix Grosschartner, Brandon McNulty and Kevin Vermaerke. Filippo Baroncini and Rune Herregodts were also both on the list, but there were serious reservations for both of them from one of us at least.

We could confirm Domen Novak was not one, Mikkel Bjerg was not one... Juan Sebastián Molano, Rui Oliveira, Ivo Oliveira, Benoît Cosnefroy and Pavel Sivakov are all riders who could realistically go, but will not. We know that as a fact.

The burning question remained. In fact it can still be answered, but most likely, it will not come in due time in order to get 'the scoop'. Ah that bit of exclusive information that could make or break a week of work. In my drafts was left an article that I had 99% finished, but couldn't complete because I lacked 1 (one name). Two words. Disappointing? Yes.

End of the story? No.

Initially that was to be the end of the story, at least until the last name was revealed. Can it be revealed however? Is there even an eight rider already decided? I cannot answer that, and neither could anyone I asked.

Maybe there isn't, and it was a wild goose chase. But that is part of what I do, and if a wild goose chase would have a result, even if it would lead to very little recognition, it would still feel like an achievement.

The curiosity remains, with no 8th rider.

The writer's job is not just to relay the information, but also to share stories. The ability to write about the insides of what happens inside of the world's top team media day is a massive privilege. And on the drive down back to Benidorm center it became clear to me that the story didn't need to end with 'the scoop' and the 8th rider.

Instead, the hunt for that information could be the story itself.