Pogacar’s teammates revealed for Flanders with late line up change
Tadej Pogacar will lead UAE Team Emirates-XRG in pursuit of a record equalling third title at the Tour of Flanders this Sunday, with the Slovenian expressing strong confidence in his teammates ahead of the Monument.
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The Emirati team has confirmed the line-up that will support Pogačar in his bid for a new victory in Flanders, where he is expected to face fierce competition from the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Mads Pedersen.
Pogačar will be supported by a strong squad, including Nils Politt, who finished third in 2024, and Florian Vermeersch, recently on the podium at both Omloop Nieuwsblad and the E3 Saxo Classic. They will be joined by Mikkel Bjerg, Benoît Cosnefroy, António Morgado and Rui Oliveira.
Benoît Cosnefroy comes into the team as a late change, having ridden his first cobbled classic of the season at Dwars door Vlaanderen. The punchy climber replaces Rune Herregodts, who had been included on the provisional start list.
The team will be without Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narváez, who both sustained injuries earlier this spring and are unable to fulfil their usual roles in the Classics. This means that, from last year’s winning team, only Politt, Bjerg and Oliveira return to the start.
Looking ahead to Sunday, the Slovenian expressed his confidence in the team in a press release:
“I’m very pleased to be going back to Flanders to defend the title. The way the whole team rode in Milano-Sanremo was so impressive, and if we can carry that into the next few weeks, I think we can achieve some great results."
The Tour of Flanders marks just the third race of the season for Pogačar, having already claimed victories at the Strade Bianche and Milano-Sanremo. His win on the Italian Riviera marked a fourth different Monument success, bringing his total to 11 Monument victories, level with Roger De Vlaeminck and second only to Eddy Merckx on the all time list.
Among those victories are two commanding wins at De Ronde, in 2023 and 2025. Should Pogačar triumph again this weekend, he would join an elite group of three time winners including Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara and Van der Poel.
Pogačar has been a consistent force in Flanders since finishing fourth on his debut in 2022. In both of his victories, he launched decisive attacks on the Oude Kwaremont before riding solo to the finish in Oudenaarde.
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