Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico next up for UAE Team Emirates-XRG

UAE Team Emirates-XRG will tackle the first WorldTour stage races of the European season over the next week, with the Emirati outfit fielding impressive squads for both Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico. With 14 victories already on the board for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, both races present another opportunity to continue the team’s fine start to the season.

As is tradition, Paris-Nice will begin proceedings on Sunday 9 March, before Tirreno-Adriatico gets underway on Monday 10 March. Both races will run concurrently and come to an end on Sunday 16 March, but not before some of the world’s best riders have gone head-to-head over a series of challenging stages which promise to deliver exciting racing.

In France, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will be hoping to reclaim the Paris-Nice title last won in 2023 through Tadej Pogačar, with João Almeida, Pavel Sivakov and Brandon McNulty – third-place finisher last season – presenting a trio of options in the mountains. All three riders will like the look of the second half of the race, which tends to decide the winner of the leader’s yellow jersey.

Before the climbers battle it out for the general classification, however, there are plenty of tests to be overcome within the race’s opening knockings.

Beginning on the outskirts of Paris, the race affectionately known as the Race to the Sun is often prone to crosswinds and ironically, inclement weather. Such hazards can derail a GC push before it has even begun, but in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG stable, there is a cohort of riders who can take to this challenge with tenacity, rather than trepidation.

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad for Paris-Nice is as follows:

 
João Almeida (Por)
Brandon McNulty (USA)
Sebastián Molano (Col)
Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu)
Ivo Oliveira (Por)
Nils Politt (Ger)
Pavel Sivakov (Fra)

Nils Politt and Ivo Oliveira are two masters of the flatlands, both with enough experience and knowhow to pilot the UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad as the peloton winds its way down the spine of France. Their powers of positioning will be crucial as Sebastián Molano and Jhonatan Narváez look to continue the Emirati squad’s winning start to the campaign. Whilst Molano is making his return from a crash that ruled him out of the UAE Tour, Narváez produced a strong showing on Opening Weekend in his recently-retained Ecuadorian national champion’s jersey.

Teamwork will be essential at this year’s Paris-Nice not just on the road bike, but also on Colnago’s time trial units, with stage 3 testing the peloton with a team time trial that will be sure to leave its mark on the fight for the overall win. Here, the time of the first rider across the line will determine the stage standings, but times will be taken individually for the general classification.

Almeida, McNulty and Politt were all part of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG team that won this stage in last year’s race, providing ample encouragement to offer another strong performance this time out.

Stage 1 is ripe for aggressive racing, before stages 2 and 6 offer the sprinters their clear opportunities. As for stages 4, 5 and 7, these are the days that hold a significant amount of climbing and should see the likes of Almeida, McNulty and Sivakov come to the fore. The latter grew up watching this race on television and will recognise the traditional final day that takes in the hills surrounding Nice before heading to the coast for a classic finish on the Promenade des Anglais.

Speaking ahead of the start of the race, Almeida is keen to build on his recent form that has delivered runner-up spots in both the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and the Volta ao Algarve.

Almeida: “It’s been a good start to the season for me and the team. We have found the winning way and been fighting for every race as they come. Here in Paris-Nice, we are going to do our best as a team. I want to be up there with the best guys and fighting for a good result.

“The shape is good after the Volta ao Algarve. I have been recovering and doing some training to stay sharp. Now I am feeling good about this one and we are going to go for it as a team.”

Meanwhile, over in Italy, Juan Ayuso will hope to better his runner-up spot from last year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, with Adam Yates also on the start line for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. The pair will continue their build to May with the customary pre-Giro d’Italia stage race from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic.

As ever, stage 1 takes the form of an out-and-back individual time trial, which will bring back good memories for Ayuso, in particular. The Spaniard won this opening stage last year and heads into the 2025 edition with two wins from just three days of racing. After taking out the Faun Drôme Classic in France, the 22-year-old won the first race of the campaign in Italy, coming out on top in a four-up sprint at Trofeo Laigueglia earlier this week.

For Yates, Tirreno-Adriatico will be his first race on European soil of the season. The recent Tour of Oman winner will have his eyes on the mountains, where he will be surrounded by a strong UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad that consists of:

 
Juan Ayuso (Spa)
Isaac del Toro (Mex)
Felix Großschartner (AUT)
Rafał Majka (Pol)
Domen Novak (Slo)
Rui Oliveira (Por)
Adam Yates (GB)

Continuing his second season as a professional, Del Toro can take confidence from his weekend performance, which saw the Mexican deliver a pitch-perfect lead-out for Ayuso at the defining moment of the Faun Drôme Classic. Their 1-2 punch was enough to see Ayuso gain a gap which he would defend on his 40km-long solo rout.

Following his breakout stage win at last year’s Tour Down Under, Del Toro placed fourth at Tirreno-Adriatico. In producing such a performance whilst still a neo-pro, the 21-year-old can hold no doubt that he has what it takes to perform at the week-long race in Italy.

With Felix Großschartner, Domen Novak, Rui Oliveira and Rafał Majka – third place in 2020 – in tow, UAE Team Emirates-XRG can be confident of starting Tirreno-Adriatico on the front foot. It has been three years since the team last won the race through Pogačar, champion at Tirreno-Adriatico in both 2021 and 2022.

This time around, the all-important days look set to be stages 3, 4, 5 and 6, the former of which stands at the longest of the race at 239.5km. The latter, meanwhile, is the Queen stage of this year’s edition and will test the riders with 3,497m of climbing to decide the overall winner of the blue leader’s jersey. The final day, of course, will likely produce a sprint finish in San Benedetto del Tronto.

Speaking just days after his Trofeo Laigueglia victory, Ayuso is full of confidence as he and the team shape up for the Race of the Two Seas.

Ayuso: “Since the start of the year I’ve said that Tirreno will be one of my main early season goals, so I am really excited and motivated for it. This year has started really well for the team so far and personally I’m really satisfied to be able to contribute to that with my wins.

“There’s a winning mentality in the team right now that I think motivates everybody a bit extra. For Tirreno, we have a very strong team and between myself and Adam [Yates], I think we are in with a good shout for GC. It’s a race I like a lot and I always love competing in Italy so I’m looking forward to what will hopefully be a great week of racing.”