UAE name powerful team to support Pogacar in Tour de France / Photo: © AFP
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UAE name powerful team to support Pogacar in Tour de France
Tadej Pogacar will set off in defence of his Tour de France title on July 5 backed by a powerful squad which his UAE team unveiled on Friday.
The 26-year-old Slovenian has ridden the three-week Tour five times, winning three and finishing second to Jonas Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023.
"It's hard to believe it's already my sixth Tour de France, time flies," he said in the team press release.
He started the season by taking the UAE Tour, then won four one-day races, including Liege-Bastogne-Liege, finishing on the podium in three others.
He ended his Tour preparation by winning the penultimate warm-up event, the eight-day Criterium du Dauphine.
"I'm lucky to have had close to the perfect preparation this year — everything has gone really smoothly," said Pogacar.
He will be backed by five of the team-mates who helped him to victory in the Dauphine -- Marc Soler, Nils Politt, Pavel Sivakov, Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narvaez.
Reflecting the depth of the UAE squad, they will be joined by Adam Yates and Joao Almeida, who both finished in the top six in last year's Tour de France.
In Pogacar's absence, Almeida won the final Tour warm-up, the Tour of Switzerland, for his third stage-race victory this season.
"The vibes in the team are amazing right now, and that gives me a lot of confidence," said Pogacar.
Team UAE Tour de France squad: Joao Almeida (POR), Jhonatan Narvaez (ECU), Tadej Pogacar (SLO), Nils Politt (GER), Pavel Sivakov (FRA), Marc Soler (ESP), Tim Wellens (BEL), Adam Yates (GBR).
A.Ammann--VB