After what has been a sensational 2025 so far, UAE Team Emirates-XRG turn their attentions to the big one with the 112th Tour de France set to begin in Lille on Saturday.
Leading the charge over the 3,339km route will once again be Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar who is looking to retain the crown he won for a third time last year.
Pogacar's hunger for titles has shown no sign of easing up, with the 26-year-old having triumphed in six races this year, including the UAE Tour and Liege-Bastogne-Liege – each for a third time – while also securing a first Criterium du Dauphine victory in June.
It means Pogacar goes into the cycling's most famous race a clear favourite as he chases a General Classification win that would bring him level with British rider Chris Froome on four wins overall.
If he arrives in Paris on July 27 as champion again, it would leave him behind only Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain, who all have a record five Tour victories.
And only seven riders have won more Tour de France stages than Pogacar's 17, which puts him joint-eighth on the all-time list, level with Frenchman Jean Alavoine, albeit with some way to go to match Manx sprinter Mark Cavendish's 35 stage victories.
“I’m excited for the Tour to start,” the 2024 triple-crown winner Pogacar told The National ahead of Saturday's 184.9km opening stage in northern France.
“I’m lucky to have had close to the perfect preparation this year; everything has gone really smoothly, especially coming off a great altitude camp with my teammates.
“The vibes in the team are amazing right now, and that gives me a lot of confidence.”
French cycling legend Hinault is confident Pogacar will eventually go on to break his record for Tour victories.
“For me, yes, he is the favourite, unless he has a major breakdown, but I don't believe that at all,” Hinault, 70, told AFP.
“When you see what he was able to do in the Dauphine, he was in control, he did what he wanted, when he wanted.
“Pogacar, when he sees that he has the chance to pull the trigger, he pulls the trigger – a bit like Eddy [Merckx].
“When he attacks, as he did at the world championships, with 100 kilometres to go, everyone says, 'what a stupid thing to do'. At the end, he won. And that's fabulous to see.”
It has not just been Pogacar enjoying a memorable campaign so far. UAE Team Emirates as a whole have been in scorching form, with an impressive 55 victories secured in 2025.
And it is an impressive squad supporting Pogacar at this year's Tour. Trusted British lieutenant Adam Yates returns to marshal the mountains and shield his leader through the gruelling sections.
Portuguese rider Joao Almeida enters the race in the form of his life, having secured overall wins in the Tour de Romandie, Tour of the Basque Country and, just last week, the Tour de Suisse.
Hometown hero Pavel Sivakov and Ecuadorian national champion Jhonatan Narvaez have the potential to shine on the short, steep ascents that could define the early stages, while Marc Soler returns to the lineup ready to continue his role as the team’s versatile workhorse, dependable on both the flat and in the hills.
Belgian national champion Tim Wellens and German powerhouse Nils Politt round out the squad, tasked with controlling breakaways and guiding the team across the valleys.
But, as always, victory at Le Tour will not come easily, and battling Pogacar for yellow will be three all-too familiar faces in the peloton.
Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, a two-time Tour de France winner, will be hungry to reclaim his crown after being overpowered by Pogacar last year when he had just returned to racing following a horrific crash in the Tour of the Basque Country.
Belgian double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel will be hoping to rediscover his best form after struggling in the latter stages at the Dauphine, while Slovenian veteran and five-time Grand Tour winner Primoz Roglic rounds off cycling’s “big four”.
This year's Tour – which never leaves French soil for the first time since 2020 – will consist of seven flat stages, six hilly challenges, and six mountain days, including one individual and one mountain time trial.
After starts in Florence, Bilbao and Copenhagen, cycling's most prestigious race returns to its roots with an old school itinerary favouring climbers.
“We decided to bring the Tour home, it was high time after all the foreign starts,” said race director Christian Prudhomme.
A total of 184 riders from 23 teams will gather in Lille for the Grand Depart in a race that consists of 21 stages before reaching the finish line in Paris. It remains to be seen whether Pogacar can once again be the man in yellow on the Champs-Elysees.
