UAE bring out the big guns for 2026 season-opener at Tour Down Under: Narvaez, Vine, Yates and more revealed in star-studded lineup

UAE Team Emirates – XRG are not treating the Tour Down Under as a warm-up. For the opening WorldTour race of 2026, they are turning up with the defending champion, a former winner, and a Tour de France podium finisher, shaping a team clearly built to dominate the race’s hardest days.

Jhonatan Narvaez leads the lineup as reigning champion after his Willunga Hill victory sealed overall success in 2025. Returning to Australia carries obvious weight for him.

“Coming back to the Tour Down Under as defending champion is a special feeling. Last year’s win was a big moment. To start my career at UAE with that result was amazing and set the tone for the year,” Narvaez said in the team’s press release.

But he is already looking forward rather than back. “2025 was an incredible season for our whole team – we showed how strong and united we are. Now we start again from zero, with the same ambition and hunger to keep building on that success. I’m motivated, the team is in great shape, and we’re ready to race hard together for another big result here in Australia.”

Narvaez will not defend alone. Jay Vine and Adam Yates join him to form a GC trio designed specifically for the way the 2026 Tour Down Under is laid out.

This year’s race opens with a short prologue before five demanding stages, packing more than 13,000 metres of climbing. Stage 2 already points to why UAE have stacked their team with climbers, with Norton Summit followed by two ascents of Corkscrew Road, a climb with gradients over 16 percent.

Vine knows that road better than most. He still holds the Strava KOM from 2023 and arrives after winning the Australian National Time Trial Championships. “I’m really excited to be lining up with the boys for TDU. It’s honestly one of my favourite races on the calendar — racing on Aussie roads, having my family with me, and having the Aussie crowds cheering you up Corkscrew, is pretty hard to beat,” Vine said.

“I’ve had a much smoother lead-in than last year, so I’m feeling good and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in with the boys and seeing what we can do together.”

Yates, making his Tour Down Under debut, has spent much of the off-season in Australia preparing for exactly these kinds of stages. His presence gives UAE Team Emirates – XRG freedom to race aggressively in the hills without putting everything on Narvaez’s shoulders.