UAE Team Emirates - XRG name Il Lombardia team - Isaac del Toro and Brandon McNulty are pogacar's replacements for last dance of 2026 season
Cycling
UAE Team Emirates-XRG face the season’s final Monument this Saturday with one clear objective: to maintain their dominance at Il Lombardia. The Emirati team has won the last five editions of the Italian Classic, all with Tadej Pogacar as the main protagonist. This time, however, they must defend their crown without the Slovenian, who is sidelined by injury.
Isaac del Toro and Brandon McNulty will be UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s main leaders in the 238.9-kilometre race from Bergamo to Como. The Mexican, fifth in last year’s edition, arrives in good form, while McNulty will line up with the added motivation of wearing the rainbow jersey he recently secured in Montreal.
Behind their two leading cards, a powerful climbing unit is ready to tackle the day’s many ascents. Adam Yates, third at Il Lombardia in 2021, Jan Christen, Felix Großschartner, Domen Novak and Pavel Sivakov complete the Emirati team’s lineup. Andrej Hauptman and Marco Marzano will direct the squad from the team car.
Isaac del Toro approaches the race with the ambition of extending the team’s winning run in the Classic of the Falling Leaves. The Mexican believes the squad’s depth could be one of UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s greatest assets in a race that will once again push the favourites to their limits.
“We are going to Lombardia as defending champions, and our objective is clear: to retain the title. The team is very strong, and we have many options to win,” Del Toro explained.
Del Toro: “We have many options to win”
The Mexican rider also highlighted McNulty’s form and said he was feeling good ahead of a race where keeping as many teammates as possible until the decisive kilometres will be essential.
“Brandon is obviously flying with the rainbow jersey, and personally I am also in good shape. The key will be to have as many riders as possible deep into the race, then play our cards on the road,” he said.
Del Toro also believes the group’s strong relationship could prove decisive: “We have good feelings as a group and understand each other well, so we are in a strong position from the start. After that, it will depend on the rivals.”
The 120th edition of Il Lombardia will once again offer an especially demanding route. The 238.9 kilometres between Bergamo and Como will feature 4,518 metres of elevation gain, including several of the Lombardy Classic’s most iconic climbs.
One of the day’s major landmarks will be Madonna del Ghisallo, the legendary sanctuary on a hill overlooking Lake Como and regarded as one of cycling’s most emblematic pilgrimage sites.
Read also
4,518 metres of climbing on the road to Como
The difficulties will not end there. The climb to Civiglio will be one of the race’s defining moments. Its four kilometres at an average gradient of 9% come as the penultimate ascent of the day, followed by a technical, winding descent that has historically offered opportunities for decisive attacks.
After Civiglio, the riders will tackle the final climb to San Fermo della Battaglia, measuring 2.9 kilometres at 6.6%. Its summit lies less than five kilometres from the finish, making it the last major launchpad for attacks before the descent towards the shores of Lake Como.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG first won Il Lombardia in 2021 with Tadej Pogacar. Since then, the Slovenian has collected five consecutive victories in the Classic, matching the all-time record set by Italian legend Fausto Coppi.
Now, without the defending champion on the start line, the team will have to adapt its strategy to extend its extraordinary run. Del Toro and McNulty are its main cards, although the presence of Yates, Christen, Großschartner, Novak and Sivakov will allow the Emirati squad to pursue several options during the demanding final phases.
Il Lombardia, known as the Classica delle Foglie Morte, will bring the season’s five-Monument series to a close, following Milano-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Juan LarraCycling Journalist
Juan Larra is a writer for Cyclinguptodate and editor-in-chief of Ciclismoaldia, where he has played a central role since its inception. Under his leadership, the website has become a trusted source for professional cycling coverage, offering in-depth analysis, news, and feature stories.
A sports journalist with over 20 years of experience, Juan earned his degree in Journalism from the University of Seville in 2007. He began his career covering a wide range of sports—including football, basketball, Formula 1, MotoGP, tennis, and cycling—for platforms such as the official La Liga app, Vodafone and Movistar websites, NBA Blogdebasket, and Cadena Cope, honing his skills in writing and editorial management.
In addition to his work at Ciclismoaldia, Juan contributes to Cyclinguptodate and serves as editor-in-chief for the tennis-focused site Tenisaldia. Throughout his career, he has conducted exclusive interviews with cyclists and sports figures, provided detailed analysis of competitions ranging from local Spanish races to major international events, and acted as a special correspondent at prestigious races including Paris-Roubaix, the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a España.
Juan’s combination of experience, expertise, and direct access to athletes has established him—and the platforms he leads—as authoritative voices in professional cycling.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Happy to help :-)Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Well, ok but, it’s also a structural, team, budgeting, direction and all sorts of other issueMistermaumau08-10-2026
- I wouldn’t call it an analogy but maybe his criticism is a little unfair. On the other hand, the fact Cicco made a public affair out of it despite having received all the explanations and proof makes me feel he now deserves being criticised for not accepting there is nothing to discuss.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Much as I like him (one of my favourites), I do want to attract a little attention to the coincidence of his recent performances in the current context. Not the first time a rider improves noticeably when there’s a job interview to prepare. In the same lighthearted humour of his, i hope the UCI will let him wear it at home as the rules quite strictly state you can only wear it during participation in the discipline you won in, and we all know how capable they are of interpreting rule interpretation ;-) Also, if it’s going to be retirement (please not), I wouldn’t call that an agreement as somebody will probably feel they didn’t get what they wanted.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Agreed. There used to be a team willing to pay though. I take all these figures (that vary enormously according to who is publishing) with handfuls of salt. We don’t know how salaries are treated (especially between a UK employer and Andorran resident), we don’t know how numbers are derived and from where, if deductions have been taken into consideration, etc. but if he returns to Colombia, he’s going to need quite a bit in protection money.Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- And another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust. Ah gonna get you too…Mistermaumau08-10-2026
- Top marks RidesHills. A great post that sums up exactly Egan Bernals situation.Cyclingsbestfan08-10-2026
- Thanks for pointing out that typo. Now ammended.Prorodsandstuff08-10-2026
- Great signing by Uno-X. Hope he develops and can get som great results.
Vikingrider08-10-2026 - It always worries me when people so knowledgeable about a subject base lengthy detailed explanations or analysis on a single erroneous fact or figure so blatantly wrong thereby invalidating just about everything they made the effort to say. I always wanted to meet some top theoretical physicist to make sure they hadn’t overlooked something obvious as their figures for the mass of the universe don’t work out. This is like basing the US budget on a debt of 4 trillion instead of 40, something I know one person would be very capable of attempting.Jumpyjohn08-10-2026
Loading
Write a comment