UAE hit by injury wave: team skips Coppi e Bartali as a result

Tadej Pogacar’s team has had a target since last year: to reach 100 victories in 2026. UAE crossed the line first 97 times in 2025, so the aim this season was to improve on that. However, a major run of injuries could throw a spanner in the works in the pursuit of that unique milestone.

Giannetti provided an update. “We currently have twelve riders out of action within the team, seven of them WorldTour riders and the rest from the development team.” Even for a squad as deep as UAE, that means a serious amount of reshuffling in the race programmes. So who exactly inside the team is dealing with injury right now? Here is a rundown of everything that is known so far.

UAE already started the season with a number of setbacks at the Tour Down Under. Narvaez fractured several thoracic vertebrae during the fourth stage, while Vegard Stake Laengen has also not raced since crashing in Australia. Eventual winner Jay Vine crashed after hitting a kangaroo, but he was still able to finish the race. It later emerged, however, that he had suffered a fracture in his hand, which means he is still not racing.

Mikkel Bjerg has also not raced since the stage race in Australia, although the cause remains unknown. Later on, Tim Wellens also crashed in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, which means he will miss the entire spring with a broken collarbone. João Almeida was also ill last week and Brandon McNulty crashed, but that absence appears to be temporary, as the American is already due to start Milan-Sanremo on Saturday.

As a result, the Emirati team already moved Luca Giaimi up from the development team in February. The 21-year-old rouleur had originally been due to finish the season with the feeder team, but got his chance earlier because of the many absentees. Giaimi rode his first WorldTour race in Tirreno-Adriatico last week and is set to start several Belgian Classics this week.

Promoting Giaimi was not the only consequence of the many injuries. UAE has also withdrawn from Coppi e Bartali, a race where the team returned home with two wins from Jay Vine in 2025. If the absent riders do not return quickly, the team could yet pull out of more smaller races as well.