{"id":454313,"date":"2026-03-02T23:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/454313\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T23:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:07:09","slug":"im-excited-to-get-stuck-in-myself-again-and-finally-race-tadej-pogacar-primes-for-season-debut-at-strade-bianche-with-isaac-del-toro-in-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/454313\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I\u2019m excited to get stuck in myself again and finally race’ \u2013 Tadej Poga\u010dar primes for season debut at Strade Bianche with Isaac del Toro in support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a>‘s highly-anticipated 2026 season debut, UAE Team Emirates-XRG have confirmed his supporting cast for Strade Bianche<\/a>, with one key domestique missing due to injury and Isaac del Toro<\/a> as luxury support.<\/p>\n

Tim Wellens, third place last year at the one-day Italian Classic, famed for its stunning scenery over Tuscany’s white gravel roads, is the missing cog in UAE’s machine for Saturday, having broken his collarbone in a nasty crash at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne<\/a> during Opening Weekend.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar won’t fret, though, having completely dominated the last three editions of Strade Bianche in which he has competed, winning with extravagant solo moves and bouncing back from a high-speed crash to beat Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) last season. He’s raring to hit the ground running once again.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

“Strade is a race where I have unforgettable memories. My record there is pretty good and I hope that I will be in a good position again come Saturday,” said Poga\u010dar on the team’s website.<\/p>\n

“We expect there to be some strong rivals, the start list is always at a high level for these big races and it should make things exciting for the fans.<\/p>\n

“It is my first race of the season, and I hope to have a good start. I\u2019ve been cheering on from the couch until now, so I\u2019m excited to get stuck in myself again and finally race. The team has been on a good wave at the moment with many wins already and we hope to continue that over the next few races.”<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar will be the heavy favourite to win, but he and Del Toro will face stiff competition from the likes of former winner Pidcock, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM)<\/a>, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers).<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

The course has been made slightly easier, with two fewer gravel sectors and 14km taken off last year’s race distance. And Poga\u010dar will also have the pleasure of racing through the Colle Pinzuto sterrato sector, which will now bear the name of the three-time winner.<\/p>\n

UAE have maintained their top spot as the best team in cycling so far in 2026, even without their big star racing, with Del Toro delivering them the UAE Tour<\/a>, Jay Vine winning the Tour Down Under and the team netting 13 victories as a collective already.<\/p>\n

Alongside the World Champion and star Mexican, who finished second on the gravel stage into Siena at last year’s Giro d’Italia, UAE will have Jan Christen, Felix Gro\u00dfschartner, Domen Novak, Florian Vermeersch and Kevin Vermaerke at the start on Saturday.<\/p>\n

It marks the beginning of Poga\u010dar’s selective calendar in 2026, with only racing the first four Monuments planned for him after Strade: Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. After completing his Classics campaign, the Slovenian’s focus will turn to chasing a record-equalling fifth Tour de France yellow jersey.<\/p>\n

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We’ll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of Tadej Poga\u010dar‘s highly-anticipated 2026 season debut, UAE Team Emirates-XRG have confirmed his supporting cast for Strade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-454313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}