Pedal Pundtitry #26 - UAE's injury list grows; What changes can we expect to Tadej Pogacar's Tour de France team?

UAE Team Emirates - XRG have been plagued with injuries during the 2026 season. This will change the team's plans for the Tour de France, with several riders coming and out because of it. The big question is: Who will be the 7 men to support Tadej Pogacar, as it stands?

In December, the team first announced their major plans for the 2026 season on a packed media day at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel. Whilst the big figures such as Tadej Pogacar, Isaac del Toro and João Almeida revealed first-hand their schedules to a full conference room; over the coming hours it would be in the lounge area that the majority of the team's figures would share their schedules.

CyclingUpToDate was first to report on the 7 confirmed riders that were outlined for the Giro d'Italia: João Almeida, António Morgado, Adam Yates, Jay Vine, Jan Christen, Igor Arrieta and Florian Vermeersch. Only five made it to the start. João Almeida fell ill in the spring and, as the team's designated leader, he had to withdraw due to the lack of form.

The other absentee was Florian Vermeersch, but not due to health reasons - in fact, quite the opposite. The Belgian's form throughout the spring was so good in fact, that within UAE - and perhaps with a small request from Tadej Pogacar himself - the classics specialist has been moved to the Tour de France lineup. This does not come as a surprise, taking into consideration Vermeersch's versatility and pure power on the bike; which delivered him to major individual results and also key support roles for the Slovenian.

The eighth rider, we would learn later, was Jhonatan Narváez - who was absent from the December camp, and something which Joxean Matxín kept close to his chest. Narváez will not race the Tour de France. With two spots left to fill, the chosen ones were Mikkel Bjerg - who was initially confirmed not to race it, as overheard in the lounge room - and Marc Soler. Soler was also set to race the Tour de France.

For the Tour de France, the plan was the following: Tadej Pogacar, Isaac del Toro, Tim Wellens, Marc Soler, Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty... And two more riders. Pavel Sivakov and Nils Politt, part of the 2025 lineup and not part of the Giro lineup, would be the obvious choices then. But plans change, specially when almost half the team has suffered from injuries over the past few months.

As previously mentioned, Florian Vermeersch is now part of the lineup. João Almeida, who is missing the Giro d'Italia where he was initially given the freedom for a sole leadership, is now also on the cards. He may follow his 2025 plan of racing the Tour and Vuelta; or otherwise build up towards the Vuelta only and skip the Tour entirely.

Unlike 2025, the team did not publicly announce its Tour de France lineup, and that was a pre-planned decision. Health problems are getting in the way of the team's original plans; and flexiblity has and is being required of the riders. Marc Soler has suffered a fractured pelvis at the Giro d'Italia's mass crash, and what was a previously fragile spot on the Tour's lineup can now be deemed virtually impossible Soler's comeback and return to top form in time for July is highly unlikely with such an injury.

And Adam Yates' presence must now also be taken with a grain of salt, after he suffered ear lacerations and a concussion in the very same crash. Whilst not critical injuries that would take him off the bike for an extended period of time, it is an obstacle in the way for a team that accepts nothing less than a Tour de France win.

Pogacar, del Toro, McNulty, Vermeersch and Wellens are the four riders who can be confirmed, if nothing else gets in the way for the time being. UAE will be in worries over the course of June however, because at the current pace, the statistic probability is that something more will come in its way before the Grand Depart in Barcelona.

Nils Politt and Pavel Sivakov are currently healthy and have a strong possibility of being selected - although Sivakov's likely departure to Decathlon CMA CGM Team, where he will link up with Paul Seixas in 2027, may not be to the management's liking.

One spot should however be filled by a climber to aid Pogacar and del Toro in the mountains, and that is likely to either come down to the currently injured Yates, or the currently ill Almeida. But in case both are not fit to be at the Grand Boucle at their best level; the team could well select Felix Grosschartner for its lineup.

The Austrian was surprisingly not named in the lineup of any Grand Tour in 2026, despite the very high level he has shown throughout 2025 and 2026. At the Tour de Romandie, he was Tadej Pogacar's main domestique; whilst at Tirreno-Adriatico he also helped Isaac del Toro for overall win. Reliability is necessary in the UAE lineup at this point, and the veteran may well find himself a position too.