"We will wait until the last moment to choose those who are truly best prepared": UAE Team Emirates manages injury concerns ahead of Tadej Pogacar's Tour de France bid

UAE Team Emirates - XRG will delay confirming their final lineup for the Tour de France as several key riders continue to recover from injuries. Sports director Andrej Hauptman stated that the team expects to bring its strongest possible roster to support Tadej Pogacar, but admitted that final selection choices will depend entirely on individual recovery timelines.

Speaking to RTV SLO, Hauptman explained that the team will take as much time as possible to assess the fitness of their riders before finalizing the eight-man squad. “This season is demanding, but I believe we will arrive at the Tour with the strongest team,” Hauptman said.

“We still have to wait and see how the recovery of some riders progresses, and we will wait until the last moment to choose those who are truly best prepared.”

The selection complications follow a difficult Giro d'Italia for the team, where overall hopes ended early when Adam Yates, Marc Soler, and Jay Vine suffered injuries and were forced to abandon. “After that second stage, the dreams of a high overall placing disappeared,” Hauptman admitted. “All three riders who could have been high in the general classification were injured, and I hope they recover quickly because we will really need them later in the season.”

Despite losing their general classification options, the remaining riders still secured four stage victories (3 with Narváez and 1 with Arrieta). However, the team faced further setbacks later in the race when Jhonatan Narváez was forced to abandon as well.

“In the end we also lost Narváez, who had to abandon after hitting a bus, when he was still in contention for the ciclamino jersey,” Hauptman noted. “I think that, given all the drama that happened to us, we have to be quite satisfied.”

Despite these setbacks, the wealth of talent within the squad means that finalizing the Tour de France lineup will leave some quality riders off the list. “We are the best team in the world, and there will be quite a few riders who, in their own way, would deserve to go to the Tour, but will stay at home,” Hauptman said.

Pogacar is currently training at altitude in the Sierra Nevada and will return to competition at the Tour de Suisse from June 17 to 21 to test his form. “It will be a very important indicator of whether we have done the preparations well,” he added regarding the upcoming Swiss race. “And whether perhaps in the final week before the race we can still change something or fine tune some details.”

The team also closely watched Jonas Vingegaard's dominant performance at the Giro d'Italia, where the Visma | Lease a Bike rider secured the overall title. “Of course we followed him, but on the other hand we are mainly focused on ourselves,” Hauptman stated.

“We know what we have to do to arrive at the Tour as well prepared as possible. As for Jonas, we already knew he was a top level rider, and I personally had no doubt that he would be back at the highest level.”

The 2026 Tour de France opens in Barcelona on July 4 with a team time trial. Hauptman expects the unusual discipline to create immediate gaps in the standings, warning that the team cannot afford to ease into the three-week race.

“The first stage is the team time trial, and we will immediately have to go full gas,” he said. “Every stage in a three week race can be decisive, and if you underestimate one, it can punish you.”

Pogacar won the 2024 edition of the Tour by 6:17 over Vingegaard and the 2025 edition by 4:24. Despite those margins, Hauptman expects another close battle this summer.

“We all know very well that it will again be very, very difficult,” Hauptman concluded. “The Tour de France is the biggest race in the world, and again this year the best riders will arrive there in top condition.”