The Gold standard: Pogacar and UAE remain top of the charts in the 2026 victory rankings

Just like last year, UAE Team Emirates-XRG remain in a league of their own when it comes to winning in the professional peloton. After their record-breaking haul last year of 97, the Emirati team racked up another 78 victories in 2026.

At the epicentre of UAE’s success was none other than Tadej Pogačar, who contributed 22 victories, the most of any rider in 2026. In total, 20 different riders claimed victory for UAE this year, illustrating their strength in depth as a squad. 

Despite being the most successful team of 2026, UAE actually saw the second-biggest drop-off in the number of victories out of all the WorldTour teams, with 19 fewer than last year. 

However, context needs to be added because half of the 18 WorldTour teams scored no more than 19 victories in total, meaning their drop-offs couldn’t be higher than UAE’s regardless. 

Additionally, the Emirati squad will rue the fact that Pogačar’s season was brought to an abrupt end, as this stunted the opportunity for a number of additional victories. 

Nonetheless, it was another standout campaign for Pogačar and UAE, who remain the gold standard in the peloton.

Visma | Lease a Bike ranks second with a strong haul of 52 victories, an increase of 12 from the previous year. 

The nature of the Dutch team’s victories stands out as they include Jonas Vingegaard’s Giro d’Italia triumph, completing the Grand Tour set, and Wout van Aert’s elusive victory at Paris-Roubaix. 

Additionally, Visma shone when it came to hunting stage wins at Grand Tours, but more on that later on.

The most improved team is Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe with 44 wins, a jump of 21, spearheaded by the arrival of Remco Evenepoel.

With the Belgian on board, expectations of the German team grew, but Red Bull and Evenepoel delivered under pressure, taking a plethora of victories in different races. 

Evenepoel himself enjoyed a strong year with 14 victories, 12 of which came while racing for Red Bull rather than his national team. 

Meanwhile, Netcompany-Ineos (36), Soudal Quick-Step (34), Decathlon CMA CGM (33), Lidl-Trek (33) and XDS Astana (32) all finished in the upper echelons with over 30 victories each this year. 

This marked an increase for Ineos and Decathlon, decreases for Quick-Step and Lidl, while Astana matched their tally of 2025. 

Alongside UAE and Quick-Step, Jayco AlUla were the third WorldTour team to see a decrease of more than 10 wins from last year. The Australian team won nine times in 2026, a drop of nine from 2025, seeing them slip to 17th in their tally ranking. 

Meanwhile, Picnic PostNL endured another difficult season, picking up three wins, one less than in 2025. 

Leading the way in terms of individual victories is Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) once more, with 22, two more than he claimed the previous year. 

The calibre of Pogačar’s victories is remarkable, with the Slovenian winning three Monuments, the Tour de France and eight Grand Tour stages before his season-ending crash at the Vuelta a España. 

Prior to his abrupt end to the campaign, Pogačar was seemingly on track to add even more victories to his haul. 

He held a commanding lead in the GC at the Vuelta, and was eyeing up the opportunity to win a hat-trick of rainbow jerseys in Montréal, defend his European title on home soil in Slovenia and win a record-breaking sixth Il Lombardia. 

For the second year running, Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) claimed the second-highest number of victories among his WorldTour companions, as he continues to cement himself as one of the leading sprinters in the peloton. 

The Frenchman went on a staggering run of form at the end of 2025, which saw him win 14 times in 18 race days. 

This year, the 22-year-old’s victories were spread more evenly across the season, and he broke new ground by winning his first, second and third Grand Tour stages at the Giro d’Italia in May. 

It didn’t take Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) long to find the winning formula after leaving Magnier and Soudal Quick-Step, with the Belgian winning on five out of his first eight race days, kicking off with the Trofeo Ses Salines team time trial. 

Classics, Grand Tour stages, World and European titles, Evenepoel claimed a fine mix of victories, which saw him end joint-third in the wins tally on 14 alongside his former teammate Tim Merlier, who continued to assert himself as a force of nature in bunch sprints.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) claimed 12 victories this year, his biggest total since 2023 when he took 15 wins. 

The Dane was faultless up to and including the Giro d’Italia, winning the GC at Paris-Nice, Volta a Catalunya and the Italian Grand Tour. He took nine stage victories across the three races, including five at the Giro. 

Vingegaard was also part of the winning Visma team in the opening team time trial stage at the Tour de France in Barcelona, taking the yellow jersey in the process. However, the Dane was unable to add to his win tally in France, and his race came to a close after crashing out on stage 15. 

Level with Vingegaard on 12 victories is Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who won his first three WorldTour stage races at the UAE Tour, Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, before adding a maiden stage win at the Tour de France en route to third overall behind his teammate Pogačar.

Vingegaard's teammate Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) also took 12 victories each.

Considering what he has achieved this season, it’s hard to believe that Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) took his first professional victory in February on stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve. 

Since then, the Frenchman picked up his first WorldTour stage race, dominating Itzulia Basque Country with three stage wins along the way, before punching to victory on the Mur de Huy at Flèche Wallonne. 

Seixas’ latest victory was his most significant and arguably most emphatic, soloing to victory in Como to become the youngest ever winner of Il Lombardia. 

Based on his stellar campaign, Seixas’ total of 8 victories this season might look ordinary in the coming years. 

Meanwhile, Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) won eight times in 2026, an increase of six from last year, and his biggest tally since 2022.

At the heart of the Belgian’s success in 2026 was his memorable triumph at Paris-Roubaix after spending many years coming so close to landing an elusive cobbled Monument. 

Despite the bitter blow of missing the Tour de France due to injury, Van Aert capitalised on an opportunity at the Vuelta a España, taking two stage wins to draw him level with his eternal rival Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) on eight wins this season. 

Van der Poel may have missed out on a Monument this year for the first time since 2021; however, the Dutch star claimed two memorable stage victories at the Tour, including an iconic performance in the Champs-Élysées finale.

Unlike the total wins rankings, it’s Visma | Lease a Bike that leads the way for Grand Tour stage wins in 2026. The Dutch team picked up 14 Grand Tour stage wins across each of the three races, pipping UAE Team Emirates-XRG to the post by 1. 

Visma started on the right foot at the Giro, with Vingegaard winning five stages en route to a dominant GC victory, while Sepp Kuss landed the queen stage in the Dolomites. 

Despite starting with a bang at the Tour by winning the opening team time trial in Barcelona, Visma were unable to leave as strong an impression on the rest of La Grande Boucle.

However, the Vuelta more than made up for it at the Vuelta by winning seven stages, a record tally for the Dutch team at a Grand Tour. 

The main protagonist in Spain was Grand Tour debutant Matthew Brennan, who scorched his way to five bunch sprints, with Wout van Aert as his trusted pilot. 

The Belgian also enjoyed his own moments to shine, taking two stage wins from a breakaway, with Brennan reversing the favour and becoming an important foil. 

UAE narrowly missed out on Visma’s stage tally, though they crucially won five stages and the GC at the Tour with Pogačar. Additionally, Pogačar’s early Vuelta exit meant that the Emirati team may have missed out on quite a few more opportunities to extend their tally in Spain.

With two of the best sprinters in the peloton in Tim Merlier and Paul Magnier, Soudal Quick-Step were able to pick up plenty of stage wins this year despite the departure of Evenepoel. 

Magnier soared to three victories and the points classification at the Giro, while Merlier was clinical at the Tour en route to a hat-trick of wins. 

Mikel Landa added the cherry on top with a departing gift on the penultimate stage of the Vuelta. 

Uno-X Mobility’s stunning rise continued as they won 4 stages in 2026 and were the only other team, alongside Visma, UAE and Quick-Step, to win at all three Grand Tours. 

Movistar were the third team to win the GC at a Grand Tour alongside Visma and UAE, after Enric Mas claimed his first Vuelta title. 

There was also success for the three ProTeams that automatically earned selection for all three Grand Tours. 

Cofidis, Pinarello-Q36.5 and Tudor all tasted victory at the Vuelta in what was a standout race for the ProTeams, with the latter picking up two victories via Marco Brenner and Stefan Küng.

Meanwhile, Lotto-Intermarché, NSN and Picnic PostNL were the three WorldTour teams that missed out on a Grand Tour stage win in 2026.