UAE Team Emirates-XRG forced to reduce race programme and change rosters after multiple crashes and Jhonatan Narváez, Tim Wellens among riders still out
Tadej Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG team was quietly targeting 100 race victories in 2026 but a series of crashes and injuries means 12 riders are currently out of action across their WorldTour and development rosters, and the team have been forced to cut back on their race programme.
UAE Team Emirates won 97 races in 2025 and 100 victories seemed possible in 2026 thanks to projections for Pogačar, Isaac del Toro and the strongest roster in men’s cycling. However, the numerous crashes and injuries have recently tempered the team’s ambitions.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG will ride in Italy and Belgium this week before Milan-San Remo and then ride the Volta a Catalunya next week and the Belgian Classics, but the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali is no longer on their programme and other lower level races could be cut in the weeks ahead.
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“We’ve got 12 riders out of action due to crashes and injuries,” Team Manager Mauro Giannetti revealed to Cyclingnews at Strade Bianche.
“Seven from the WorldTour team and the others from the development team. It’s not easy to deal with, even for us, but that’s part of cycling.”
The team won two stages at the 2025 Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali thanks to Jay Vine but Cyclingnews understands the team has withdrawn from next week’s Italian stage as they struggle to fill their race rosters and try to maintain their dominance in other races.
The five-day Coppi e Bartali stage race begins on March 25. The race is traditionally held in the Emilia-Romagna region but a new route, when finally revealed, will include stages across Piemonte, southern Lombardy and into Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
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Ineos Grenadiers, Pinarello-Q36.5, Movistar, and EF Education-EasyPost are expected to ride but other teams will send their development squads and mix riders from their WorldTour and development lineups, taking advantage of the UCI rules.
The number of crashes and serious injuries appears to have increased across the sport this year and have hit UAE Team Emirates-XRG especially hard.
Jhonatan Narváez crashed on stage 4 of the 2026 Tour Down Under, suffering several thoracic vertebrae fractures. Vegard Stake Laengen also crashed and has not raced since. Jay Vine suffered a scaphoid fracture in his hand when a kangaroo ran into the race. He fought the pain to win overall but then needed surgery. He only began outdoor training two weeks ago.
Mikkel Bjerg has not raced since the Tour Down Under and Filippo Baroncini is slowly recovering after his terrible crash in the 2025 Tour de Pologne. Tim Wellens crashed during Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and suffered a right clavicle fracture, weakening the UAE lineup for Milan-San Remo and the Classics.
The UAE WorldTour squad included 29 riders for 2026 but the team promoted 21-year-old Italian Luca Giaimi from their UAE Team Emirates Gen Z squad on February 27 to help cover for injuries. He rode Tirreno-Adriatico and will also race in Belgium this week.
Narváez and Wellens played huge roles in setting up Pogačar’s attack on the Cipressa during last year’s Milan-San Remo. Other riders will have to fill that role on Saturday, with responsibility falling on the young but talented shoulders of Del Toro, Jan Christen and Florian Vermeersch.
Brandon McNulty crashed at Paris-Nice but has been called up to make his San Remo debut, with Felix Großschartner and Domen Novak completing the seven-rider lineup for Milan-San Remo.
As a WorldTour team, UAE Team Emirates-XRG can only opt out of one WorldTour race per season.
They won the Tour Down Under, the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico but are about to target the Spring Classics with Pogačar. They must also prepare for other race programmes and then the Giro d’Italia, where João Almeida is targeting the maglia rosa in a match against Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). Pogačar also needs the best possible team to win a fifth Tour de France, with the race calendar running until late October.