Tadej is already counting down the days to the 113th Tour de France, which will start on Saturday in Barcelona and finish on July 26 in Paris. On the 3,320.7-kilometer route, he will be chasing his fifth victory, which would see him join cycling legends Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain at the top of the all-time list.
On the way to this historic feat, he will also have the outstanding UAE Team Emirates – XRG squad by his side. Alongside him, it will be made up of Isaac del Toro, Felix Großschartner, Brandon McNulty, Nils Politt, Florian Vermeersch, Tim Wellens, and Adam Yates. They will be led by sports directors Fabrizio Guidi, Andrej Hauptman, and Simone Pedrazzini.
»The Tour de France is always the biggest challenge of the season and also the race that motivates us the most. Every year, you arrive at the start knowing that anything can happen over three weeks, and that’s what makes it so special. We’ve prepared really well as a team, everyone has worked incredibly hard, and now we’re excited to finally get started in Barcelona,« said Tadej.
This year, in 16 race days, he has already notched 13 wins, and UAE Team Emirates – XRG has already collected 51 in the 2026 season, but the Tour will, as always, be a story of its own. The team’s strength will be evident already in the opening stage, a 19.6-kilometer team time trial finishing at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona. »I feel good, I’m looking forward to racing, and I know I’ll have a fantastic group of teammates and staff around me. We have a lot of confidence in each other and have built up a lot of experience together over the years. There will be strong rivals, difficult stages and many other unpredictable moments, but we’re ready to give everything. It’s a privilege to wear these colours at the Tour de France, and we’ll do our best to make ourselves, the team and the fans proud,« Tadej added.
This will be his first three-week race of the year, after first shining on the one-day races and also claiming his first victory at Milana–Sanremo. He was won in both of this year’s one-week stage races, in Romandy and in Switzerland. Now the toughest test of the year lies ahead of him. After the Catalan opening it will take the peloton through all five French mountain ranges: the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, the Vosges, the Jura, and the Alps. In total, the riders will have to overcome 53,950 meters of elevation gain, and the organizers have saved the best for last. Both the 19th stage and the queen stage, the 20th, will finish on the legendary Alpe d’Huez.
As every year at the Tour, the competition will once again be exceptionally strong. For his fifth yellow jersey on the Champs-Élysées, Tadej will, among others, have to beat outstanding riders such as Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz (both Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe), and Juan Ayuso (Lidl Trek).