"They are getting away with this again" - Thomas Dekker disappointed in how easily are other teams being led on by UAE
Cycling
Recently, it seems as though the Tour de France tends to become a playground to whichever team holds the aces (read as: overwhelming favourite), and then they are let to get away with almost anything. We have seen it in 2022 from Jumbo-Visma when they split six stages among Jonas Vingegaard and Wout Van Aert. And now it's happening again at UAE Team Emirates - XRG.
The Emirati team has only left crumbles to their opponents in the first week as Isaac del Toro and Tadej Pogacar grabbed three stage wins and most special jerseys at some point of the first week.
On stage 9, seemingly tailor-made for a successful breakaway, they once again made the escapees ride for their life in order to hold off the main group with hungry Mads Pedersen after UAE did not let them (at one point an 18-man group) get further than a minute up the road.
The reason? Pogacar said that Tim Wellens 'just likes' to keep plowing ahead a bit.
"Some teams can do nothing right, like Jumbo-Visma back when they dominated, but it seems like Pogacar's team doesn't do anything wrong. They are getting away with this again," ex-professional Thomas Dekker draws a parallel on Live Slow, Ride Fast podcast.
Fortunately, all is good
At the end of the day UAE Team Emirates - XRG still only used two of their domestiques while they arrived with four riders in the main group behind escapees.
"It might've cost something in the chase, but it couldn't cost everything," pointed out Dekker that only Felix Großschartner and Tim Wellens were spent.
Mathieu van der Poel wins stage 9 of the 2026 Tour de France
Had the breakaway not worked out, UAE might've made some powerful enemies in the pack, starting with Mathieu van der Poel: "They were actually just lucky that the breakaway made it, because otherwise Van der Poel would have thought: 'Today again, yeah?'"
After the finish, Van der Poel and Pogacar joked around about the stage. The Slovenian seemed genuinely happy to meet Van der Poel backstage afterwards. Dekker: "Of course, then everything was immediately forgotten again."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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