UAE Team Emirates XRG

For the women's team, see UAE Team ADQ.

UAE Team Emirates XRG (UCI team code: UAD) is an Emirati Road bicycle racing team. The team competes at UCI WorldTeam level and has done so since the UCI World Tour was formed as the top category of road cycling in 2005.

UAE Team Emirates XRG

Team information
UCI code	UAD
Registered	Italy (1999–2016) UAE (2017–present)
Founded	1999 (1999)
Discipline(s)	Road
Status	UCI WorldTeam
Bicycles	Colnago
Components	Shimano, Enve
Website	Team home page
Key personnel
General manager	Mauro Gianetti
Team manager(s)	Matxin Fernandez
Team name history
1999–2002 Lampre–Daikin 2003–2004 Lampre 2005 Lampre–Caffita 2006–2007 Lampre–Fondital 2008 Lampre 2009 Lampre–NGC 2010 Lampre–Farnese Vini 2011–2012 Lampre–ISD 2013–2016 Lampre–Merida 2017 UAE Abu Dhabi 2017–2024 UAE Team Emirates 2025– UAE Team Emirates XRG
Current season

Since becoming UAE Team Emirates in 2018, the team has won the Tour de France four times and the Giro d'Italia once, with Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar. Pogačar has also won the monuments of Giro di Lombardia (4 times), Liège–Bastogne–Liège (3 times) and Tour of Flanders (2 times) for the team.

The "XRG" in the current team name indicates the addition of UAE energy sponsor XRG as co-title sponsor and the official energy partner in late 2024, for a 6-year partnership.^[1][2]

The team at the 2023 Paris–Nice

The team at the 2025 Tour de Hongrie

History

The team was established in 2017 as UAE Abu Dhabi before being renamed UAE Team Emirates in 2018. It is sponsored by the UAE government and the team has achieved notable success in various prestigious races, including stage wins and overall victories in Grand Tours (the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España) and one-day races. The team was temporarily suspended from the ProTour in 2010, missing one ProTour event.^[3]

Transition from an Italian-based team

Chinese involvement

In August 2016 the team (then called Lampre-Merida) confirmed that its WorldTeam licence was being transferred from CGS Cycling to Chinese company TJ Sport Consultation, with the team becoming the first Chinese WorldTour team from 2017. Former Saunier Duval–Prodir team manager Mauro Gianetti was announced as the co-ordinator for the project.^[4]

In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport the following month, Saronni confirmed that he and CGS Cycling would continue to manage the team on TJ Sport's behalf, and that the team's bicycles would be supplied by Colnago. He indicated that the project was being co-ordinated by the Chinese government via TJ Sport with involvement from a number of Chinese companies including Alibaba, and that its aim was to develop Chinese cycling and riders.^[5]

When the UCI awarded 17 WorldTour licences to teams in November, it announced that TJ Sport's application was "under review" by its Licensing Commission.^[6] According to Saronni, the reason for the delay was that the head of the TJ Sport project, Li Zhiqiang, had fallen seriously ill, which prevented funding for the project from being confirmed.

Emirati rescue

As a result, the team looked elsewhere for sponsorship, securing funding from the United Arab Emirates and changing its name to UAE Abu Dhabi. The UCI confirmed the team's WorldTour licence on 20 December.^[7] In February 2017, the team announced that airline Emirates had signed on with the team as a naming-rights sponsor. The team was subsequently known as UAE Team Emirates.^[8]

In June 2017, two days before the 2017 Tour de France the team announced it would also be sponsored by the First Abu Dhabi Bank, an amalgamation of the First Gulf Bank and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, with their logo being added to the chest and side of the team's jersey.^[9] Additionally, in December 2024, the Abu Dhabi-based energy company XRG was added as a team co-title sponsor and the official energy partner, for at least a six-year term, resulting in the latest team name change.^[1]

Team roster

As of 2 January 2025.^[10]

Rider Date of birth  João Almeida (POR) (1998-08-05) 5 August 1998 (age 26)  Igor Arrieta (ESP) (2002-12-08) 8 December 2002 (age 22)  Juan Ayuso (ESP) (2002-09-16) 16 September 2002 (age 22)  Filippo Baroncini (ITA) (2000-08-26) 26 August 2000 (age 24)  Mikkel Bjerg (DEN) (1998-11-03) 3 November 1998 (age 26)  Jan Christen (SUI) (2004-06-26) 26 June 2004 (age 21)  Alessandro Covi (ITA) (1998-09-28) 28 September 1998 (age 26)  Isaac del Toro (MEX) (2003-11-27) 27 November 2003 (age 21)  Felix Großschartner (AUT) (1993-12-23) 23 December 1993 (age 31)  Rune Herregodts (BEL) (1998-07-27) 27 July 1998 (age 27)  Julius Johansen (DEN) (1999-09-13) 13 September 1999 (age 25)  Vegard Stake Laengen (NOR) (1989-02-07) 7 February 1989 (age 36)  Rafał Majka (POL) (1989-09-12) 12 September 1989 (age 35)  Brandon McNulty (USA) (1998-04-02) 2 April 1998 (age 27)  Juan Sebastián Molano (COL) (1994-11-04) 4 November 1994 (age 30)

Rider Date of birth  António Morgado (POR) (2004-01-28) 28 January 2004 (age 21)  Jhonatan Narváez (ECU) (1997-03-04) 4 March 1997 (age 28)  Domen Novak (SLO) (1995-07-12) 12 July 1995 (age 30)  Ivo Oliveira (POR) (1996-09-05) 5 September 1996 (age 28)  Rui Oliveira (POR) (1996-09-05) 5 September 1996 (age 28)  Tadej Pogačar (SLO) (1998-09-21) 21 September 1998 (age 26)  Nils Politt (GER) (1994-03-06) 6 March 1994 (age 31)  Pavel Sivakov (FRA) (1997-07-11) 11 July 1997 (age 28)  Marc Soler (ESP) (1993-11-22) 22 November 1993 (age 31)  Pablo Torres (ESP) (2005-11-10) 10 November 2005 (age 19)  Florian Vermeersch (BEL) (1999-03-12) 12 March 1999 (age 26)  Jay Vine (AUS) (1995-11-16) 16 November 1995 (age 29)  Tim Wellens (BEL) (1991-05-10) 10 May 1991 (age 34)  Adam Yates (GBR) (1992-08-07) 7 August 1992 (age 32)

Major wins

Main article: List of wins by Colnago–Lampre and its successors

Since becoming UAE Team Emirates in 2018, the team has won the Tour de France four times and the Giro d'Italia once, with Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar. Pogačar has also won the monuments of Giro di Lombardia (4 times), Liège–Bastogne–Liège (3 times) and Tour of Flanders (2 times) for the team.

National, continental, and world champions

1999

Belgian Road Race, Ludo Dierckxsens

2000

South African Time Trial, Robbie Hunter

Latvian Time Trial, Raivis Belohvoščiks

2001

Latvian Time Trial, Raivis Belohvoščiks

2002

Latvian Time Trial, Raivis Belohvoščiks

Latvian Road Race, Raivis Belohvoščiks

2005

Austrian Road Race, Gerrit Glomser

2006

Italian Time Trial, Marzio Bruseghin

2007

Slovenian Road Race, Tadej Valjavec

2008

World Road Race, Alessandro Ballan

2011

Slovenian Road Race, Grega Bole

Ukrainian Road Race, Oleksandr Kvachuk

Ukrainian Time Trial, Oleksandr Kvachuk

Italian Time Trial, Adriano Malori

2014

Portuguese Time Trial, Nelson Oliveira

Portuguese Road Race, Nelson Oliveira

2015

Portuguese Time Trial, Nelson Oliveira

Ethiopian Road Race, Tsgabu Grmay

Ethiopian Time Trial, Tsgabu Grmay

Portuguese Road Race, Rui Costa

Slovenian Road Race, Luka Pibernik

Taiwanese Road Race, Feng Chun-kai

Taiwanese Time Trial, Feng Chun-kai

2017

UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza

UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza

Slovenian Time Trial, Jan Polanc

European Track (Individual pursuit), Filippo Ganna

2018

World Track (Individual pursuit), Filippo Ganna

UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza

UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza

Norwegian Road Race, Vegard Stake Laengen

2019

UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza

UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza

Slovenian Time Trial, Tadej Pogačar

2020

Slovenian Time Trial, Tadej Pogačar

Portuguese Time Trial, Ivo Oliveira

Portuguese Road Race, Rui Costa

Norwegian Road Race, Sven Erik Bystrøm

European Track (Individual pursuit), Ivo Oliveira

2021

African Time Trial, Ryan Gibbons

UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza

UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza

African Road Race, Ryan Gibbons

South Africa Time Trial, Ryan Gibbons

2022

UAE Road Race, Yousif Mirza

UAE Time Trial, Yousif Mirza

Swiss Time Trial, Joel Suter

Portuguese Road Race, João Almeida

2023

Australian Time Trial, Jay Vine

Slovenian Time Trial, Tadej Pogačar

Slovenian Road Race, Tadej Pogačar

American Time Trial, Brandon McNulty

Portuguese Time Trial, João Almeida

Swiss Road Race, Marc Hirschi

2024

World Road Race Championships, Tadej Pogačar

American Time Trial, Brandon McNulty

Austrian Time Trial, Felix Großschartner

Belgian Time Trial, Tim Wellens

German Time Trial, Nils Politt

Portuguese Time Trial, António Morgado

Slovenian Road Race, Domen Novak

2025

Ecuador Road Race, Jhonatan Narváez