Inside UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s winter Paris-Roubaix preparation with Wellens and Pogačar

Tim Wellens has been one of the most reliable lieutenants for UAE Team Emirates-XRG in recent years, particularly for Tadej Pogačar, but the Belgian has also built an ever stronger palmarès of his own at the Middle Eastern squad. At his team’s media day in Benidorm, he looked ahead to the coming year, in which he will race the spring in Belgium’s national champion’s jersey.

Wellens delivered again last season. He finished third at Strade Bianche and shared the podium with Pogačar after excellent work in support — just as he did in the Tour de France. In the summer months, he rewarded himself with the Belgian road title and his first Tour stage win.

“I can wear that beautiful Belgian jersey every day in training, so it’s been a magnificent year,” he beamed. “Not much has changed, but I did realise how important it is to win a stage in the Tour de France. In that Belgian jersey. It’s a completely different level, and I underestimated how important that was.”

“I got home and I had the impression everyone knew me, which wasn’t the case before,” he explained. “In race kit, that is. People stop me in training for a photo and that was new. I think that mostly came from the Tour, especially for people who watch less cycling. For me, it’s been a pleasant experience.”

These are things his leader Pogačar is used to — including the reconnaissance of the key spring races in December, where Wellens was also present. It didn’t take long before those images circulated on social media. “We’ve already been testing and that was hugely educational: tyres, bikes, we tested all kinds of things. We learned a lot from it, and it was necessary that we did it.”

“Tadej still wants to win many more races, but Roubaix is one of the races high on his wish list,” Wellens confirmed, well aware of his role within the team. “When Tadej is racing, it’s different. It’s easier to ride in service of him than to go for your own result, and I’m happy to sacrifice myself for him in the Tour of Flanders and Roubaix.”

Those two Monuments — together with Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo — are also the only spring races the Slovenian world champion will ride. In the other races, riders like Wellens, as well as Florian Vermeersch, Nils Politt, Jhonatan Narváez and a number of young talents, will be allowed to go for their own chances.

“I’d like to take another victory,” the Belgian laid out his ambitions for next year. “I’ve been winning for a number of years in a row and I’d love to win a classic one day, but those are exactly the hardest races to win. In any case, I get a lot of opportunities in this team,” Wellens said appreciatively.

“I race for the best team in the world, alongside the best rider in the world. As a kid I never could have believed that, so I truly feel I couldn’t be anywhere better than here,” he explained. “As teammates we lift each other to a higher level. Even in training the pace is brutally hard, and that benefits the overall level.”