'I won’t have the best legs' – UAE Team Emirates-XRG have Tim Wellens back from broken collarbone just in time for the Ardennes Classics

UAE Team Emirates-XRG will have Tim Wellens back among their ranks as he returns to competition on Friday at De Brabantse Pijl, having recovered from the broken collarbone he suffered in March just in time for the Ardennes Classics.

"I’m looking forward to my first race back after the crash – it took quite a long time before I was back. I was 3 weeks off the road in total and lost quite a bit of condition. I’ve been able to build up some form but feel like I’m still far from my best shape," said the Belgian on the team's website.

"I have great memories from Brabantse Pijl since my victory in 2018 – it’s a race that suits me. I’m also very happy to show my national jersey again in Belgium. I won’t have the best legs but I’ll do my best to work for the team as I build up for the goals ahead."

Wellens crashed out of the cobbled Classics heavily during Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, leaving Tadej Pogačar without his right-hand man for Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

He won three of them even without the Belgian national champion, but UAE are bolstered heavily by Wellens's return to racing, and he will play a crucial role in the Amstel Gold Race this coming Sunday.

World Champion Pogačar will not be racing there to try and avenge his shocking loss in the Netherlands' biggest race from last season, where he was reeled in by Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), with his focus fully on the next Monument, Liège-Bastogne-Liège instead.

2018 winner Wellens will start Brabantse Pijl alongside another former winner for UAE, Benoît Cosnefroy, who joined the squad for 2026, with Filippo Baroncini, Mikkel Bjerg, Luca Giaimi, Florian Vermeersch and Gen Z rider, Matteo Vanden Wijngaert as support.

For the Amstel Gold Race two days later, UAE's squad features five riders from Friday's team: Baroncini, Bjerg, Cosnefroy, Giaimi, and Wellens, with two climbers joining for the Dutch race's tougher parcours: Felix Großschartner, and Pavel Sivakov.

UAE are without several of their talents for the Ardennes, with Isaac del Toro, Jan Christen and Jhonatan Narváez all still out due to injury, but with Pogačar, they will still be the favourites to win in Liège in 10 days.

Following his hit out in the Ardennes, Wellens will again play a crucial support role for Pogačar at the Tour de France, where UAE will be chasing a record-equalling fifth yellow jersey with their superstar Slovenian.

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We'll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Find out more.