UAE left waiting: Skjelmose snatched stage 3 in Luxembourg to deny the win record as McNulty kicks to third.
UAE was denied Friday at Luxembourg. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Updated September 19, 2025 11:50AM
UAE Emirates-XRG will have to wait a bit longer to become modern cycling’s most winning team.
Lidl-Trek’s Mattias Skjelmose kicked to victory atop the Montée de Niklosbierg to double up Friday as the new race leader in stage 3 at the Tour of Luxembourg.
Things were looking good for UAE, with Brandon McNulty, Jhonatan Narváez, and Rajal Majka slotting into the elite group on the circuit course that featured the closing 2.8 km at 9.3 percent.
Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling) bolted free, but he was caught with UAE leading the chase. Skjelmose timed his attack perfectly on the final wall to deny UAE and push McNulty into third and Narváez into fourth.
“My main focus is just to win the TT and not think too much about the GC. I’ll just take it as a normal TT and try to win the stage, and then hope that it falls into place for the GC,” McNulty said. “It is quite a hard TT, it is not super flat, and it’s a bit longer than we’re seeing a lot nowadays, so I’m excited for it.”
McNulty — hot off victory at GP Montréal on the weekend — moves into third overall.
Saturday’s 26.3km individual time trial around Niederanven could see McNulty move into the lead and win the stage.
Riders like Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) or Steffan Bissegger (Decathlon-Ag2r) could delay the party, however.
Just one more victory away from history
UAE is tied with HTC-Columbia for the all-time modern win record. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
UAE has been unstoppable of late as it powers toward a modern all-time season win record.
The team’s seven stage wins during the Vuelta a España and Isaac del Toro’s streak of four more wins in Italian one-days zoomed the team close to HTC-Columbia’s team victory record of 85.
McNulty’s win ahead of teammate Tadej Pogačar in Canada on Sunday brought the Emirate super team equal to the HTC record.
Lidl-Trek’s Jonathan Milan also won Friday at the 109th Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen ahead of Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) to give him 10 wins on 2025 and his first win since the Tour de France.
Lidl-Trek’s double delight on Friday gives the USA-registered team 46 wins on 2025, nearly half of the prolific UAE squad that doesn’t even have a top-line sprinter on its roster.
If McNulty and Co. cannot pull it off this week in Luxembourg, the team also races at the Super 8 Classic this weekend and the CRO Race, where McNulty closes his season later this month.
Of course, Pogačar will race the world championships in Rwanda and conclude his campaign at the Italian fall classics, when he lines up at Il Lombardia as a four-time defending champion.
It’s hard to imagine UAE won’t rewrite history before the year is out.