UAE Team Emirates-XRG finished 2025 with 97 wins, the most a professional cycling team has ever won, but just short of 100. The aim for 2026 then, improbable as it is, is to better their record from last season.
Their year has begun well, then, with a dominant victory on stage two of the Tour Down Under, which saw Jay Vine win after riding away with teammate Jhonatan Narváez. There are still three stages to go, but the pair have a minute on the field.
UAE took until the fifth day of WorldTour racing in 2025 to take a win; this year, it was day three. Add in Vine's win in the time trial at the Australian National Championships, and things feel like they're heading in one direction.
On Thursday, the inevitable happened on the Corkscrew climb, as Adam Yates – an 18-time WorldTour winner – put the peloton under pressure, stretching things out, allowing Vine – a six-time WorldTour winner – to attack alone, only to be joined by Narváez, himself a four-time WorldTour winner, and the defending champion.
It doesn't take a genius to work out that through being the richest team in the world, funded by the UAE and Abu Dhabi-based energy company XRG, they can stockpile talent to hitherto unforeseen levels, and create results like stage two of the Tour Down Under.
"It’s been on my mind since the last time I wore it. I really love this jersey," Vine said post-race. “It’s incredible to win on such a hard stage. We’ve got such a strong position now with me and Jhonny, and being led out by Adam is pretty incredible as well."
"With two guys in the front, it’s pretty simple what’s going to happen,” Yates added. "I just followed the guys that were attacking and we ended up with a group of five or six. They were working quite well together, but we had two super strong guys in the front. So yeah, it was a good day for the team."
A lead of a minute might already be enough to secure the overall for Vine and UAE. Three lumpy stages remain, including three ascents of Willunga Hill on stage four, but in this form, it already appears that the race might be gone for their rivals. UAE are simply a level above.
"Anything can happen," Vine laughed when it was put to him that 'you can't lose it from here', according to Cyclingnews. "But yeah, it's really good to have such a big lead compared to my last tour. It's a lot more secure and we also got Jhonny in second now so we've got a very strong position."
Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Jesper Mørkøv put it succinctly in a statement: "The UAE Team Emirates-XRG block was simply too strong today."
Two wins by the 22 January, with the possibility of more this week to come; it feels like we might be in the era not of super-teams, but one super-team.
