La Vuelta 2026 ***Spoilers***

[ColinJ]

Too subtle for me.

I missed it too!

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I missed it too!

If it's any consolation to @Pblakeney, I got it

 

[TomDW]

UAE team list, it's like they've already won.
UAE Team Emirates - XRG (WT)

• -POGAČAR Tadej
• -ALMEIDA João
• -VINE Jay
• -SIVAKOV Pavel
• -TORRES Pablo*
• -VERMAERKE Kevin
• -OLIVEIRA Ivo
• -NOVAK Domen

 

[phreak]

UAE team list, it's like they've already won.
UAE Team Emirates - XRG (WT)

• -POGAČAR Tadej
• -ALMEIDA João
• -VINE Jay
• -SIVAKOV Pavel
• -TORRES Pablo*
• -VERMAERKE Kevin
• -OLIVEIRA Ivo
• -NOVAK Domen

The climbing support there is better than he enjoyed at the Tour. Not that he really seems to need it.

 

[Dorset Boy]

Del Torro signs on again with UAE, contract to 2031

 

[ColinJ]

Del Torro signs on again with UAE, contract to 2031

So, Pog is basically grooming his eventual replacement!

 

[phreak]

So, Pog is basically grooming his eventual replacement!

Wasn't this Torres guy supposed to be the next big thing as well?

 

[Pblakeney]

Wasn't this Torres guy supposed to be the next big thing as well?

No point in putting all your eggs in one basket.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

UAE team list, it's like they've already won.
UAE Team Emirates - XRG (WT)

• -POGAČAR Tadej
• -ALMEIDA João
• -VINE Jay
• -SIVAKOV Pavel
• -TORRES Pablo*
• -VERMAERKE Kevin
• -OLIVEIRA Ivo
• -NOVAK Domen

May have to wait on the damage report after the big crash in Poland.
Almeida was one of the last to finish, 16 minutes down.

 

[wakemalcolm]

May have to wait on the damage report after the big crash in Poland.
Almeida was one of the last to finish, 16 minutes down.

Almeida's anus is getting even more horribilicised as he's had to withdraw from the Tour of Poland. As we say in football about a player who's miles off the pace and will probably never make it: he just needs a decent pre-season.

 

[ColinJ]

Almeida's anus is getting even more horribilicised as he's had to withdraw from the Tour of Poland.

Was it due to an unfortunate 'nose of saddle' incident, or did he just mislay an 'n'?

 

[MadMalx]

Del Torro signs on again with UAE, contract to 2031

By which time Del Torro will be Pog’s age now. In a year’s time Pog will (without injury) have his 6 Tours and maybe a full set of monuments. Badger to slay in 2028?

 

[tarric]

Have to admit, I thought it might have been Almeida's year this year after his 3 UCI World Tour stage races wins and second to Vingegaard in the Vuelta last year but it's turned into a year to forget, having missed most of the season with a lingering illness and now the crash in the tour of Poland.

 

[phreak]

Have to admit, I thought it might have been Almeida's year this year after his 3 UCI World Tour stage races wins and second to Vingegaard in the Vuelta last year but it's turned into a year to forget, having missed most of the season with a lingering illness and now the crash in the tour of Poland.

There's quite a bit of uncertainty over most of the UAE domestiques. Sivakov has had a dreadful year, Jay Vine hasn't completed a stage race since winning the Tour Down Under in January, and Almeida has had a year to forget. Torres is the only one who has ridden as you'd expect, and it's his first Grand Tour so surely we can't expect much from him. Realistically, despite the team looking super strong on paper, I don't expect Pogacar to have much support in the mountains (not that he'll need it I don't suppose)

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I see Jarno Widar, the Belgian wünderkind is down to ride it as his first GT