TakeVuelta4 weeks ago
Pogačar crashed out of stage 8 while wearing red, and UAE Team Emirates-XRG finished the 2026 Vuelta a España with four riders instead of eight. Sivakov, Torres and Vine all abandoned too, and the team that had just won five straight stages ended the race without the leader who won three of them.
Almeida, Novak, Oliveira and Vermaerke were the ones left standing. Almeida put it plainly to AS: "We're all a bit stretched thin… it's been a complicated Vuelta with crashes, injuries, illnesses… it's not our best moment." The cost showed up in the standings — Visma-Lease a Bike edged UAE by 270.75 points across the three Grand Tours, a gap that opened almost entirely after Pogačar's crash.
Sources
'Radically different scenario' - With four riders at finish, UAE Team Emirates-XRG battle through tough Vuelta a España without Tadej PogačarVisma remarkably edge past UAE in the 2026 Grand Tours - Vuelta UCI points tip the balance after Pogacar crashes out of raceUAE Team Emirates' injury-hit 2026 season sees 17 broken bones from 16 crashes
Analysed 3 sources, written and summarised with AI · How we work