UAE Team Emirates-XRG to mount title defences at Tour de Pologne and Vuelta a Burgos

With two big one-week stage races coming up, UAE Team Emirates-XRG is pleased to announce its lineups for both the Tour de Pologne and the Vuelta a Burgos.

The Tour de Pologne is up first for the Emirati squad, running from Monday, 3 August through to Sunday, 9 August. Ranked as a UCI WorldTour race, the Tour de Pologne saw Brandon McNulty take the overall title last time out, and it will be up to the American’s teammates to go in search of similar success this year.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG will field a seven-man squad able to attack the race on all fronts. Mikkel Bjerg, Rune Herregodts and Vegard Stake Laengen will fill the engine room – Herregodts a man in form after his recent Belgian National Championships victory – whilst João Almeida, Jan Christen, Benoît Cosnefroy and Jhonatan Narváez will all be capable of striking out.

Directing the riders from the team car will be Sports Directors Marco Marzano and Manuele Mori.

Running from the north of the country to the south, the 83rd edition of the Tour de Pologne will begin on the coast in Gdynia. Stage 1 will prove the longest of the race, running for 234.2km between Gdynia and Koszalin, with a not inconsequential 2,249m of climbing to be had along the way.

Naturally, the sprinters will have their eyes on the leader’s jersey in the opening stage, but they will beware the category 3 climb of Góra Chełmska that falls just 6km from the finish line.

Should this challenge prove too difficult for the larger fast men, then stage 2 will surely provide some solace. At a little over 150km in length, the route between Międzyzdroje and Szczecin is all but certain to end in a bunch sprint.

Heading across the Lubuskie Voivodeship, with its dense forestation on the German border, stage 3 will chart a course between Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra. With less than 1,000m of climbing to deal with, the peloton will eye up another finish for the sprinters, but once more a category 3 climb in the finale may add some extra intrigue.

There will be no such uncertainty on stage 4. Setting out from Zagan in Lower Silesia, the fourth day of racing runs fairly flat for the 100km, before three categorised climbs will come to define the finish. The tougher of these tests will both fall within the final 25km.

On the one-two punch to the finish line in Karpacz, the race organisers have plotted ascents of the Borowice (4.6km at 5.7%) and the Karpacz (7km at 6.2%). The latter of these two category 1 ascents will top out with just 8km to ride, ensuring that the general classification battle will well and truly come alive on Thursday, 6 August.

There will be no rest for the wicked for the rest of the race, with the contenders set to battle it out over mountains and against the clock.

Stage 5 between Opole and Kocierz is the milder of the days to come, but will still leave its mark. The final climb to the line ramps up for 1.5km at an eye-watering 11.5%.

This is followed by the Queen stage of the race on Saturday.

With no less than six categorised climbs on the route between Bukovina Resort and Bukowina Tatrzańska, stage 6 packs a little under 3,000m of climbing into just 125.8km of racing. This will include two ascents of the Sciana Bukowina, which has an average gradient of almost 10% for 1.6km. Expect fireworks to occur in Poland’s Tatra National Park.

Just as with last year’s race, the Tour de Pologne will conclude with an individual time trial beside the Wieliczka Salt Mine. A hotbed of tourist activity near the country’s capital of Kraków, this was the site of McNulty’s stage and overall victory in 2025.

The 12.5km-long route will be almost identical this time out, with only a small alteration made on the final approach to the line inside the final kilometre. Otherwise, stage 7 is a carbon copy of last year’s route, and will provide a fitting end to what promises to be a tight GC battle for victory at the 83rd Tour de Pologne.

A day after the Tour de Pologne gets underway, the Vuelta a Burgos will begin for UAE Team Emirates-XRG in Spain. Here, Marco Marcato and Jan Polanc will direct proceedings as Sports Directors, with the Emirati squad fielding an experienced seven-man team.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG won last year’s Vuelta a Burgos and have taken stage victories in recent years through Jay Vine and Sebastián Molano. Both Vine and Molano will be back this time out, with the pair joined by teammates Igor Arrieta, Domen Novak, Pavel Sivakov, Pablo Torres, and Kevin Vermaerke.

As has become custom for the Vuelta a Burgos, the 48th edition will draw to a close on the unforgiving slopes of Lagunas de Neila. But before the stage 5 summit finish will be plenty of tough days in the saddle for the peloton.

Setting out from Guniel de Izan on Tuesday, 4 August, this year’s Vuelta a Burgos gets underway with a 165.2km stage 1 to Burgos. On paper, this is the easiest of the stages, though a punchy finish will ensure that only the toughest of sprinters make it to battle for the day’s honours.

Stage 2 will roll along for 177.8km between Arcos de la Llana and Pineda de la Sierra. With almost 2,500m of climbing to be had, this is no simple test and will offer a first chance for the climbers to leave their mark.

Although perhaps suited to a breakaway, stage 3 from Montija to Balneario de Corconte is the hilliest of the race. Criss-crossing rolling terrain all afternoon, the day features 3,349m of elevation gain, promising an attritional battle amongst both stage hunters and the general classification contenders.

A day later, the Alto de Coculina and the Alto La Varga climbs will come to define stage 4, which crosses the ‘Territorio Románico’ between Palazuelos de Munio and Briviesca.

To close out the race on Saturday, 8 August, stage 5 will be the shortest of the race at 137.1km. This is a red herring as to the day’s difficulty, however, because the finish comes at the top of the Lagunas de Neila climb, which has come to dictate the final winner of many recent editions of the Vuelta a Burgos.

The most infamous climb of the region, there will be no place to hide for the leader’s jersey on this tough mountain. It promises an entertaining end to proceedings after five days of racing in the hills.