UAE and Decathlon strengthen future with long-term talent deals

For Bisiaux, the new agreement adds another two years to a contract that already ran until the end of 2028. The 21-year-old has been part of the French team's structure since his junior years and has steadily developed into one of its most promising climbing prospects.

His breakthrough at professional level came at the 2025 Vuelta a Burgos, where he took his first pro victory with a late attack on stage 3 before eventually finishing third overall.

Bisiaux has continued to progress in 2026, finishing 15th at La Flèche Wallonne and 12th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège before taking tenth at the San Sebastián Classic and seventh overall, as well as the young rider classification, at the Vuelta a Burgos.

His development has drawn less attention than that of teammate Paul Seixas, whose rapid rise culminated in fourth overall at this year’s Tour de France. Yet Bisiaux has quietly strengthened his own credentials as one of Decathlon’s most promising stage racing talents.

A junior cyclocross world champion in 2023, the 21-year-old is now increasingly focused on developing as a climber and future general classification rider.

“My goal is to keep developing as a climber and gradually move towards general classification ambitions,” Bisiaux said via the team’s official channels. “They have always given me the time and support needed to progress.”

UAE, meanwhile, continue to use their development team as a direct route into the WorldTour.

Davide Stella will step up from UAE Team Emirates Gen Z at the start of 2027 after signing a three-year deal with the WorldTeam.

The 20-year-old Italian has endured a disrupted season after crashing heavily at the AlUla Tour in January, but returned to racing and won the final stage of the Volta a Portugal do Futuro in May. His speed was already evident in 2025, when he took stage victories at both the Tour of Sharjah and Volta ao Alentejo.

Stella also brings considerable track pedigree. He won two junior world titles in 2024, in the elimination race and team pursuit, before becoming European under-23 scratch champion the following year.

“Coming up to the WorldTour from the Gen Z team was always my ambition,” Stella said in a statement published by the team. “I feel my time there provided me a great pathway to make the next step in my career.”

He follows Pablo Torres, Adrià Pericas and Luca Giaimi in progressing from UAE's development programme to the WorldTour setup.

Earlier this week, UAE also announced the signings of Abel Balderstone and Marco Frigo for the 2027 season.