UAE Team Emirates-XRG have confirmed their 2025 line-up for the fast-approaching Tour de France, where Tadej Pogačar will fight to join Chris Froome as the winner of four editions of cycling's biggest bike race.
There are no changes to the UAE riders already announced back in the winter as provisionally due to be on the startline in Lille on July 5 alongside Pogačar. In fact, there's just one alteration to the line-up that proved so successful for UAE in last summer's race.
Jhonatan Narvaéz replaces Juan Ayuso, who, rather than doing the Tour, initially co-headed the 2025 Giro d'Italia GC bid for UAE alongside Adam Yates. Ayuso finally abandoned the Italian Grand Tour, while his teammate Isaac del Toro finished second overall.
A new signing for 2025 with UAE, Narváez is expected to play a similar role to Ayuso in last year's Tour, although his one-day racing skills may well make him very useful for Pogačar in the fraught, hilly stages that feature during the opening 10 days across northern and western France.
The 28-year-old from Ecuador has never previously participated in the Tour, but he has considerable Grand Tour experience, nonetheless. One high point of his five Giro starts to date saw him pip Pogačar to the line on the opening stage of the 2024 edition, becoming the only rider apart from the Slovenian to hold the maglia rosa in last year's race.
At the other end of the spectrum in the 2025 lineup, Catalan Marc Soler is the UAE rider who has accompanied Pogačar in the most previous Tours, having been present for UAE in every edition since 2022. Soler himself has ridden the Tour every year since 2018.
Five of those present in the 2025 Tour were already with Pogačar in the Dauphiné, while Adam Yates, who took part in the Giro d'Italia this year, and Tour de Suisse winner João Almeida will also be in the Tour de France team.
Portuguese racer Almeida also finished fourth overall in the Tour last year, with Yates, a Tour podium finisher in 2023, sixth in 2025, further confirming the team's enormous strength in depth.
Globally, the lineup is essentially a series of all-rounders and climbers, with UAE maintaining their usual Grand Tour policy of not fielding a sprinter alongside Pogačar and putting all their focus on his GC bid.
“I’m excited for the Tour to start. 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," Pogačar said in the same press release confirming the 2025 Tour de France riders.
“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."
Pogačar himself will be aiming for a fourth overall victory in six years as he battles against Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) this July. He'll also be aiming to add to his current total of 17 Tour stage wins.
"I’m expecting a very high level from all the other top riders," Pogačar added.
"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."
UAE Team Emirates-XRG have also announced they will be using a previously unreleased special-edition kit at the Tour de France, due to be revealed shortly.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG for the 2025 Tour de France
- Tadej Pogačar (Slo)
- João Almeida (Por)
- Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu)
- Nils Politt (Ger)
- Savel Sivakov (Fra)
- Marc Soler (Spa)
- Tim Wellens (Bel)
- Adam Yates (GBR)
The Tour de France is the biggest race in cycling, and a Cyclingnews subscription offers you unlimited access to our unrivalled coverage. Get all the breaking news and analysis from our team on the ground in France, plus the latest pro tech, live race reports, and a daily subscriber-only newsletter with exclusive insight into the action. Find out more.
