Close to a perfect ten - UAE Team Emirates-XRG 2025 verdict

Expectations are naturally high when you have one of the greatest forces in cycling history amongst your crew, along with a flurry of star riders. UAE Team Emirates accrued 81 victories in 2024, finishing comfortably 1st in the UCI rankings. Among these victories including both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, as well as two monuments, all achieved by Tadej Pogačar.

2025 saw some strong arrivals, including Florian Vermeersch, Jhonatan Narváez and the talented Pablo Torres, who had been promoted from the development team, to bolster an already stacked squad.

Ultimately, the aim would be to win as many races as possible, not just with the inevitable Tadej Pogačar, but with talented riders such as João Almeida, Juan Ayuso, and Isaac del Toro. Coming just shy of Team Columbia-HTC record record-breaking 85 victories in 2009, could UAE break new ground in 2025?

Wins: 95
UCI Ranking: 1st
The Verdict: 9.5/10

UAE Team Emirates-XRG set a new professional cycling record with an extraordinary 95 victories in 2025, shattering the previous mark set by Team Columbia-HTC in 2009. Twenty different riders contributed to this historic season that established the Emirati squad as the most dominant team in modern cycling.

Tadej Pogačar's fourth Tour de France triumph stands out as their signature achievement, but the team's dominance extended far beyond Grand Tours. UAE riders claimed victory in seven of eleven WorldTour week-long stage races, demonstrating unprecedented depth across the calendar.

João Almeida emerged as one of the season's standout performers, collecting three WorldTour stage race victories at Itzulia Basque Country, Tour de Romandie, and Tour de Suisse. The Portuguese rider's remarkable consistency included multiple stage wins, forming a perfect build-up to the Tour de France. Whilst the Tour didn't go to plan, with the Portuguese rider abandoning from the effects of a crash at the end of the first week, he bounced back strongly to give Jonas Vingegaard a battle at the Vuelta a España, eventually finishing 2nd.

In the classics, World Champion Pogačar dominated despite early setbacks. After crashing at Strade Bianche, the Slovenian demonstrated his resilience by recovering to win that race before adding Tour of Flanders, La Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a record fifth consecutive Il Lombardia to his palmares.

Isaac del Toro emerged as one of the team's most prolific winners, especially on Italian soil. After finishing 2nd at the Giro d'Italia, he accumulated an impressive collection of victories, including GP Industria & Artigianato, Giro della Toscana, Coppa Sabatini, Trofeo Matteotti, Gran Piemonte, and Giro del Veneto.

The team's Grand Tour stage hunting proved equally impressive, with UAE accumulating 14 victories across the three-week races, five more than nearest rivals Lidl-Trek. Their dominance peaked at the Vuelta a España, where they won seven stages in a nine-stage stretch, including João Almeida's triumph atop the legendary Angliru.

Brandon McNulty added significant contributions with his first WorldTour general classification victory at Tour de Pologne, while Juan Ayuso, Adam Yates, and Tim Wellens also secured multiple wins throughout the season. The team also had the most riders inside the top 100 of the UCI rankings, obliterating the tallies of any other team.

With 95 victories, Tadej Pogačar and Isaac del Toro at number 1-2 in the UCI rankings for 2025, a Tour de France victory and three monuments, among a plethora of other standout achievements, this season was like none other for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

Still, it was not flawless. The team let the Giro d’Italia slip from its grasp after leading much of the race, a rare missed opportunity that keeps their 2025 verdict just below a perfect ten.

Tadej Pogačar picked up where he left off in 2024, continuing to break new ground and cementing his legacy as the greatest rider of his generation. For the fifth season running, the Slovenian star topped the UCI rankings, and once more in dominant fashion claimed 20 victories, the most of any male rider.

The World Champion started his season in style with two stage wins and the GC at the UAE Tour. His dominance continued in the spring when, despite a nasty crash, he recovered to win Strade Bianche.

Pogačar’s classics campaign continued with victories at the Tour of Flanders, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, showcasing his versatility and dominance across different terrains while wearing the rainbow jersey.

In stage racing, Pogačar claimed his maiden Critérium du Dauphiné title in June, winning three stages, including a memorable opening stage, which saw a battle between the GC contenders and Mathieu van der Poel versus the sprinters. The World Champion followed this with his fourth Tour de France victory in July, taking four stage wins and controlling the race from start to finish in what was the standout victory for the team, and their only Grand Tour success in 2025.

Following the defence of his rainbow jersey in Kigali, Rwanda and becoming European Champion for the first time, Pogačar returned to racing in UAE colours by winning Tre Valli Varesine and then a record-equalling fifth Il Lombardia.

In the process, Pogačar became the first rider ever to win five consecutive editions of any monument, cementing his status as the greatest rider of his generation. Once more, it was another emphatic season for the World Champion, who remains the greatest force in cycling right now.

Tadej Pogačar sealed his fourth Tour de France victory in emphatic fashion, taking four stage wins along the way, and remarkably became only the second rider since 1903 to not lose a single second to any top-five general classification competitor between stages 1 to 20. For the Slovenian and the Emirati team, it’s the fourth yellow jersey in six years at the most important race of the season, marking another major success.

The success wasn't limited to Pogačar alone. UAE Team Emirates-XRG finished the Tour de France with five stage victories total, including Tim Wellens' impressive stage 15 solo breakaway win. Pogačar wore the Yellow Jersey for 13 stages and also claimed the polka dot jersey as King of the Mountains, marking the third time in his career he has won both classifications simultaneously.

The financial rewards matched the sporting success, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG earning a total of €701,280 in prize money across the three weeks of racing. This sum far exceeded their nearest competitors, Visma-Lease a Bike, who collected €383,150 through Vingegaard's second place, Wout van Aert's stage 21 victory, and their team classification win.

Jhonatan Narváez started his season with a bang, winning atop Willunga Hill to seal the general classification of the Santos Tour Down Under, the third GC success of the Ecuadorian’s career, and first at WorldTour level. Following his victory at the Ecuadorian championships, Narváez was part of the winning team at the Tour of Flanders, Critérium du Dauphiné, before being a member of the Tour de France winning squad alongside Tadej Pogačar.

After the Tour de France, Narváez had the opportunity to lead the team at the Lidl Deutschland Tour, where he won stage 2 and ended 2nd in the general classification. A final highlight of the Ecuadorian’s season was a 3rd place finish at the Tour of Guangxi.

Julius Johansen had the most race days for UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 2025 with 91, 8 more than any other teammate.

• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Arkea B&B Hotels
• Bahrain Victorious
• Cofidis
• Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Groupama-FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers
• Intermarché-Wanty
• Jayco-AlUla
• Lidl-Trek
• Movistar
• Picnic PostNL
• Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
• Soudal Quick-Step
• Visma | Lease a Bike
• XDS-Astana