Tadej Pogačar will be supported by João Almeida and Adam Yates at the Tour de France, as the Slovenian aims for a fourth yellow jersey.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG announced their eight riders for the 2025 Tour on Friday, with Pogačar, Almeida and Yates joined by Pavel Sivakov, Tim Wellens, Nils Politt, Jhonatan Narváez and Marc Soler.
It means just one change from their Tour-winning team last year, with Narváez replacing Juan Ayuso in the lineup. Yates finished third at the 2023 Tour, and has already ridden the Giro d'Italia this year, while Almeida has won three WorldTour stage races this year, so both will act as domestiques de luxe. Meanwhile, Sivakov won this year's Ruta del Sol, and Wellens, Politt, Narváez and Soler are all former Grand Tour stage winners - it is not a team which lacks talent.
Pogačar goes into his sixth Tour de France as the favourite to win overall again, with the world champion winning 11 times already this season, including victory at the recently completed Critérium du Dauphiné.
"I’m excited for the Tour to start," the 26-year-old said. "I’m lucky to have had close to the perfect preparation this year — everything has gone really smoothly, especially coming off a great altitude camp with my teammates. The vibes in the team are amazing right now, and that gives me a lot of confidence.
"Of course, you can never be fully prepared for something like the Tour de France — it’s unpredictable, and that’s part of what makes it so special. “I’m expecting a very high level from all the other top riders. The first few days should be really exciting for the fans with some open, aggressive stages, and the last week is very climbing-heavy with some iconic stages.
"It’s going to be a big fight all the way to Paris, but I’m ready to give everything. It’s hard to believe it’s already my sixth Tour de France, time flies."
The team's staff will be led by Joxean Matxin Fernández, with sports directors Andrej Hauptman, Marco Marcato, and Simone Pedrazzini.
Pogačar will face up once more agains Visma-Lease a Bike's Jonas Vingegaard; it was announced earlier this week that the Dane will be supported by Giro winner Simon Yates and Wout van Aert in France, in what is another strong squad.
