The rider

Tim Wellens is the kind of rider who makes a superteam feel less mechanical. UAE have more famous climbers and bigger engines, but Wellens is the tactical adult who understands when a stage is about position, when it is about weather, and when it is about letting a breakaway dangle at exactly the right distance. His 2026 spring was interrupted by a collarbone break at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, yet the Tour de Suisse showed why Pogačar trusts him: he can return from disruption and still read the race cleanly.

At the Tour, Wellens lives in the complicated middle of the day. He is strong enough to make a break, experienced enough to police one, and versatile enough to drag UAE through rolling terrain before the pure climbers take over. Last year's solo win into Carcassonne in the Belgian champion's jersey was a reminder that he is not just a minder with a radio. When given room, he still has the instincts of a stage hunter and the nerve to gamble before the favourites have committed.

His value to Pogačar is partly physical and partly psychological. The Tour's first week is full of places where leaders lose time through mistakes rather than weakness: traffic furniture, crosswinds, positioning fights, wet corners, sprint teams with different priorities. Wellens reduces that noise. He is the rider who can make a nervous peloton legible, who knows when to move up without panic, and who gives UAE a voice on the road that does not need to shout to be obeyed.