Tim Wellens returns for Amstel Gold Race, UAE breathe a little easier

Despite many wins in 2026 already UAE Team Emirates-XRG face one particular challenge. Since the early season races, a significant number of riders have been sidelined due to injury and sickness. One of those was Tim Wellens. The Belgian crashed heavily in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, breaking his collarbone. The veteran returns this week at Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race.

Vegard Stake Laengen, Mikkel Bjerg, Jay Vine, Jhonatan Narváez... they all went down in the first WorldTour race of the year. For the latter, it immediately meant the end of his entire spring campaign, while others did manage to return. In the Classics season, eyes were on Wellens, but things went wrong for him in the opening weekend.

The Belgian suffered a heavy fall and broke his collarbone. For a long time, it was unclear when he would return, although there were early signs of a comeback ahead of the Ardennes. Those signals have now been confirmed by his team: Wellens will be at the start of Brabantse Pijl on Friday and will also line up for the team at the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday.

This is a significant boost for UAE, who saw three of their four leaders crash ahead of the Ardennes Classics, leaving them with a rare personnel crisis. In addition to Narváez, the Emirati team had also counted on Jan Christen and Isaac Del Toro, but they will not be taking part. The Swiss rider broke his collarbone in Milan-San Remo, and the Mexican is still recovering from a crash in the Tour of the Basque Country.

Team boss Joxean Fernandez Matxin was disappointed. "We had four leaders for the Ardennes, and we have lost three of them, because besides Del Toro, Christen and Narváez will also be absent. In total, we have 14 riders who are either not in top form or not performing well," he said recently.

The return of Wellens is a welcome one. In Brabantse Pijl, he will pin on a race number alongside teammates Filippo Baroncini, Mikkel Bjerg, Benoît Cosnefroy, Luca Giami, Florian Vermeersch, and Matteo Vandenwijngaert.

For the Amstel Gold Race, held this Sunday, UAE is bringing some even more significant names to the start. Alongside Wellens, Bjerg, Cosnefroy, and Giami, Pavel Sivakov, Felix Großschartner, and Brandon McNulty will also be present. World Champion Tadej Pogacar will return to action a week later as planned, at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Emirati team had tweeted the squad for Amstel gold, showing McNulty in prime leadership position, but that tweet has since been deleted. The UAE Emirates-XGR website still shows the unchanged squad however, so we'll keep an eye out for more updates.