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Follow us on GoogleUAE Emirates-XRG can once again look back on an extremely successful season. The team led by Tadej Pogačar entered 2026 knowing that it had achieved a record 97 victories in 2025. For much of the season, the team remained on track, but in the final weeks of the year, the tally ultimately stalled at 78.
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Velon tallied up the victories of 2026 and came up with 78 wins, shared among 20 riders. Once again, Pogačar played the most prominent role.
The Slovenian won 22 times, all of them at the WorldTour level. He started with a win at Strade Bianche, claimed his first victory at Milan–San Remo, added another Tour of Flanders to his resume, and was once again the best at Liège.
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Pogačar wasn't able to defend his rainbow jersey in 2026
Pogačar amassed victories at every stage race in 2026
After a typical spring season, his win streak really took off when the focus shifted to stage races. He won 4 stages and the overall victory at the Tour de Romandie, 3 stages and the overall victory at the Tour de Suisse.
Then 5 stages and the overall victory at the Tour de France, and at the Vuelta a España he had already won 3 stages when. However, disaster struck on Stage 8, when he crashed hard. His season came to an end with serious injuries and fractures.
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Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France for the fifth time.
Pogačar was aiming for a record number of wins in 2026
With 22 victories, Pogacar was the big winner in the UAE Emirates-XRG team standings, but what might have been possible if he hadn’t crashed?
The Vuelta still had thirteen days to go, with most of the mountain stages still ahead. Without a team, Pogacar had the World Championships and European Championships coming up, but he would normally have also ridden the Tour of Lombardy in the Italian autumn.
In 2025, Pogacar racked up 20 victories, including the World Championships and the European Championships. His most successful year in terms of wins was 2024, when he won 24 times.
However, Pogačar did complete two Grand Tours that year, as well as the Tour of Catalonia in the spring. His own record of 24 victories would thus have been possible.
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Pogacar withdrew from the Vuelta.
UAE Emirates-XRG has won 78 times
The mention of Pogacar in this story doesn’t just apply to the Slovenian rider with UAE Emirates-XRG. A whole host of other riders crashed in 2026, including Jay Vine, Marc Soler, Jhonatan Narváez, and Tim Wellens.
João Almeida struggled with health issues all year, causing UAE to miss out on some extra victories.
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With that in mind, his tally of 78 victories can truly be called incredible, especially considering that things weren’t exactly going his way.
Isaac del Toro was second behind Pogacar with 12 victories, but even for the Mexican, that was more than he had in 2025. Jan Christen, Julius Johansen, and Benoît Cosnefroy also contributed significantly to the total, with all three recording 5 victories.
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David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.
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Latest Comments
- Who cares what these two, or any two individuals think about the course? Speaking of the course, the next time this subject is written about, you would better serve your readers if you included the terrain that the TTs will be ridden over. It's not just the distances; the amount of climbing within the distances is also critical and, perhaps, even determinative. Do Better.rjb28-10-2026
- The article makes it sound like Italy can simply take confidence from their Olympic wins, but Denmark’s been dominant at Worlds. What needs to change for Italy to close that gap?raceready728-10-2026
- Four races, four medals for Ganna — not a bad week at all! I’m still learning how team pursuit works: does the team with the fastest time always win, or are there heats as well?breakawaybikerd28-10-2026
- Ganna and Milan together at Lidl-Trek could be a cracking combination. Whether Ganna ends up in the lead-out or gets more room for the Classics will be fascinating to see.cyclechamp4528-10-2026
- Milan’s world record, pursuit title and team pursuit silver make for a brilliant end to the season. That7-second gap to Denmark shows just how much work Italy have ahead of them before LA, though.bikebuffj28-10-2026
- - I like that there’s finally something to debate beyond whether Tadej will win again. Bring on 2027!samanthak27-10-2026
- - Does the 2027 route have fewer mountain stages than usual, or is the focus just on the time trials? I’m still figuring out how the route shapes who has the best chance.michael5427-10-2026
- - Armstrong’s right that Pogačar is the favourite, but calling it “his race to lose” feels a bit premature when the parcours gives Evenepoel so much room to gain time.bikebuffj27-10-2026
- - Two TTs, and one of them is 38 km? That could make the GC battle much more interesting. Still, the mountains will have their say.patriciaw27-10-2026
- - Dumoulin makes a strong case. Remco can turn 71 km against the clock into a serious advantage, though Pogačar is hardly a slouch in a time trial either.andrewf27-10-2026
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