ABU DHABI, 13th January, 2026 (WAM) — UAE Team Emirates-XRG has announced its lineup for the first WorldTour stage race of the season, with Jhonatan Narváez returning to Australia to defend his Santos Tour Down Under title.
The Ecuadorian national champion claimed victory on Willunga Hill en route to taking the team’s first GC crown of the 2025 campaign, and the 28-year-old is raring to go ahead of his third participation in Adelaide.
With a stage victory apiece in each of his Tour Down Under outings to date, Narváez will start the race as one of the star attractions on 20th January, but the reigning champion will be joined in South Australia by two more climbing heavyweights in Jay Vine and Adam Yates. Together, the triumvirate will spearhead an imposing lineup for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, as the Emirati squad seeks to continue its impressive record at the Tour Down Under.
Danish duo Mikkel Bjerg and Vegard Stake Laengen will be on hand in the engine room, with both riders having helped Diego Ulissi to second overall on their last Tour Down Under appearances in 2020.
The Tour Down Under will take place across six days from 20th to 25th January. This year’s route has been designed to be as tough as any that has come before it, with a prologue followed by five demanding road stages to crown the winner of this year’s ochre jersey.
Hosted in the southern city of Adelaide, and raced across 758.8km and packing in 13,187m of elevation gain, the route of the 2026 Tour Down Under looks set to pack a punch.
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