UAE Team Emirates-XRG Confirm Paris-Roubaix Squad: Pogacar Flanked by Vermeersch, Politt and Bjerg in Cobbled Praetorian Guard
UAE Team Emirates-XRG have confirmed their seven-rider line-up for Sunday's Paris-Roubaix, unveiling what is unquestionably the most heavyweight cobbled support unit the Emirati squad has ever assembled around Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian world champion is flanked by two former Hell of the North podium finishers — Florian Vermeersch and Nils Politt — as he chases what would be the most coveted scalp of his glittering career: the only Monument still missing from his palmarès.
The seven-man squad is built entirely around protecting Pogacar through the brutal middle sectors and delivering him to the front of the race intact for the decisive moves on the Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre. Vermeersch, second in 2021 and fifth on his UAE debut last year, is the designated Plan B and the rider Pogacar has personally spent two days reconning the cobbles with over the past fortnight. Politt, second in 2019 and a former German national champion, joins Vermeersch as a senior cobbled lieutenant whose physical profile and patient race-craft are ideally suited to the chaos of the pavé.
Completing the line-up are Danish time trial specialist Mikkel Bjerg, Julius Johansen, Portuguese all-rounder Rui Oliveira and rising Portuguese star Antonio Morgado, whose final selection over Sebastián Molano was confirmed on Wednesday morning by team manager Mauro Gianetti. Bjerg's return is particularly significant: the Dane has been one of the most reliable cobbled engines in the peloton when fit, and his presence on the start line in Compiègne is a boost UAE have been counting on for months after his slow recovery from a winter knee problem.
"We have built this team specifically for this Sunday and only this Sunday," Gianetti told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday. "Tadej has been very clear since November about what he wants. He wants Roubaix. Everything we have done this winter has been pointed at this race — the equipment programme, the recon days, the team selection. We know we are facing the greatest cobbles specialist of the modern era in Mathieu van der Poel, but we also know we have the strongest leader in cycling. We are ready."
The squad announcement caps an extraordinary winter of preparation that has seen UAE invest unusually heavily in equipment, reconnaissance and personnel for a race in which they have historically been a peripheral presence. Pogacar himself spoke at his pre-race press conference on Tuesday about how seriously the team has taken Roubaix preparation since his slip-induced second place in 2025, when his winning chances "went up in smoke" on a slick cobble at the worst possible moment. The Slovenian has trained for hours on end behind motorbikes on the pavé, completed multiple equipment tests at Compiègne and held a team-wide tactical retreat at the squad's Calpe base in late March.
Critically, Vermeersch has emerged as the pivot of the entire UAE plan. The 26-year-old Belgian, signed from Lotto-Dstny in 2025, has been one of the most consistent cobbled performers in the peloton over the past four seasons and his familiarity with every metre of the route makes him the ideal road captain. His recent contract extension with the Emirati squad has been widely interpreted as an acknowledgment that he is now considered indispensable to the team's cobbled ambitions — and on Sunday he will be tasked with marking Van der Poel's every move while keeping Pogacar fresh for the finale.
Tactically, the plan is widely expected to involve Politt and Bjerg shepherding Pogacar through the first 100 kilometres before Vermeersch takes over the marking duties on the iconic Trouée d'Arenberg. From there, the race becomes a question of whether the Slovenian's aerobic capacity can survive the pavé long enough for him to attack on the long, fast cobbled sectors of the second half — the kind of terrain where Roger De Vlaeminck used to drop the field with sustained power outputs over five-star sections.
If Pogacar can complete the Monument Grand Slam on Sunday, he will become only the fourth rider in history to win all five — joining Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck in cycling's most exclusive club. UAE Team Emirates-XRG's seven-man squad announcement makes it abundantly clear that the team will accept nothing less than total commitment to that goal. As Gianetti put it on Wednesday: "There is no Plan C. Only Tadej, with Florian as Plan B, and six riders who will give everything to put them at the front when it matters."