While most of the transfer market noise this autumn has come from teams like Netcompany INEOS or Lidl-Trek, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has been doing things rather quietly. Four riders in, four out, and the roster is already essentially complete for 2027 with 30 riders under contract.

This is not a team reinventing itself. It is a team making calculated adjustments at the margins, as it has done consistently over the past few years. In 2025 they signed five riders for the new season. In 2026 they signed four. In 2027, four again. When you have Tadej Pogacar and Isaac del Toro at the top of your roster, you do not need to overhaul everything every winter.

That does not mean the window has been uneventful. Losing Pavel Sivakov is a real blow, even if it was expected. Juan Sebastian Molano’s departure ends an eight-year chapter for the team’s only pure sprinter. Igor Arrieta and Rune Herregodts also leave, and two of the brightest prospects in the development team, Mateo Ramirez and Ugo Fabries, head elsewhere rather than earning a promotion.

The incoming riders are promising but not yet at the same level as those who leave. Whether that matters depends on what UAE actually need, and the honest answer is that, for as long as Pogacar is in rainbow or gold, they need reliability, climbing legs, and good judgment. The four signings fit that description.

Pierre Gautherat: the most exciting of the four

Of the four incoming riders, Pierre Gautherat is the one who generates the most anticipation. The 23-year-old Frenchman arrives from Decathlon CMA CGM on a deal through 2029, having been a very consistent performer in punchy French one-day races over the past two seasons.

His 2026 was particularly strong: he won Paris-Camembert in March, finished second at Classique Dunkerque, fourth at Tro-Bro Leon, and then at the Tour de Luxembourg he almost pulled off something even more memorable, pushing Mathieu van der Poel to the line on stage one up a steep 10% finishing climb before settling for second. On stage two of the same race he added a third place. Those are the kind of results that put you on the map.

Gautherat’s profile is that of a puncheur with a decent sprint, particularly effective on those explosive short climbs that decide French one-day races. He has not yet raced a Grand Tour and his trajectory suggests that will not change immediately at UAE.

His role at UAE will most likely be as a domestique in stage races, with freedom to target one-day races on terrain that suits him. At 23 and signed until 2029, this is a long-term bet by the team on a rider they believe can keep developing.

Marco Frigo: a climber who hunts stage wins

Marco Frigo arrives from NSN Cycling Team on a two-year deal through 2028. The Italian, 26, has spent his entire career as a stage hunter, and that is precisely the role he will fill at UAE. His career highlights include a stage win at the Tour of the Alps in 2025, third at a Vuelta a Espana stage in the same year, and seventh overall at the Tour de Pologne in 2025 and fifth at the Baloise Belgium Tour. In 2026 he delivered a fourth place on stage four of the Criterium du Dauphine and tenth at Amstel Gold Race.

He rode the Tour de France this year, finishing fourth on stage four in a strong mountain performance before ultimately completing the race as a workhorse for the team. At 188cm he cuts an unusual figure among climbing domestiques, but his power-to-weight ratio works well enough on typical Grand Tour mountain terrain.

At UAE he will slot in as a climbing helper for the leaders, getting into breakaways on stages where the team needs a presence upfront, and occasionally being given the freedom to go for results when the race situation allows.

A Giro or Vuelta start seems almost guaranteed given his profile - the Tour de France squad is harder to break into given the depth available - and in a race with mountain stages, Frigo offers a reliable option. He is not a rider who will win Monument classics or GC races, but he is the kind of professional that any well-structured team needs.

Abel Balderstone: climbing depth with WorldTour ambitions

Abel Balderstone is the signing that generated the most buzz in Spain. The 26-year-old broke his contract with Caja Rural to join UAE on a deal through 2029. He is both a climber and a capable time trialist, having won the Spanish national time trial title in 2025, and finished 13th overall at that year’s Vuelta a España as the best Spanish finisher in the race.

In 2026 he stepped up further, debuting at the Tour de France - finishing 47th overall - and taking fourth overall at O Gran Camino in February, just behind Adam Yates. His season has been somewhat inconsistent beyond those highlights, but the underlying quality is clear.

At UAE he faces stiffer competition for Grand Tour spots than he ever encountered at Caja Rural, and getting into the Giro or Vuelta roster will require impressing the management in training and in smaller races first.

He is unlikely to be a Tour de France regular given the depth in the squad, but a Giro or Vuelta spot should be achievable if he adapts well. Balderstone was reportedly a target of Movistar as well, and UAE winning that battle with a three-year deal is a small coup.

Davide Stella: the sprinter the team needed

Davide Stella, 20, arrives from UAE’s own development squad Gen Z, promoted to the WorldTour on a deal through 2029. He is a sprinter and his 2026 season at development level showed real promise. He won stage three of the Tour de l’Avenir in August in a sprint, finished third overall in the points classification of the same race, and also won stages at the Volta ao Alentejo and the Tour of Sharjah in 2025.

At 20, Stella is clearly raw. The jump from development racing to the WorldTour is a steep one, and expecting immediate results at the highest level would be premature. UAE have historically shown little interest in building a sprint programme at Grand Tours, so Stella’s opportunities will likely come in smaller races where a sprint specialist can be given freedom.

The timing makes sense: with Molano gone, there was a clear gap, and Stella is the natural in-house candidate to fill it in the long run.

Sivakov: the most significant departure

Of the four departing riders, Pavel Sivakov’s exit is the one that will hurt most in practical terms. The 29-year-old Frenchman spent three seasons at UAE after joining from INEOS in 2024, and over that time became one of Pogacar’s most trusted allies. He was part of the Tour de France winning team in both 2024 and 2025, helping control races from the front during the key mountain stages.

He won the Vuelta a Andalucia in 2025 as a rare individual result, finished ninth overall at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, and won a stage at the Giro d'Abruzzo. He also played a key role at Il Lombardia, helping Pogacar to his fifth Monument victory at the 2025 edition.

Sivakov is the kind of rider who does not create headlines but makes everything around him work. He climbs well enough to stay in the lead group deep into mountain stages and is a solid time trialist. Finding a direct replacement for that profile is not easy.

He signs a three-year deal with Decathlon CMA CGM to work alongside Paul Seixas, which is a fine opportunity for him but a genuine loss for UAE.

Molano: eight years and a sprint career defined at one address

Juan Sebastian Molano leaves after eight years, having joined UAE in 2019 as a young Colombian sprinter and departing as one of the most experienced sprint performers in the peloton. His tally of 29 victories includes Vuelta a España stages in 2022 and 2023, UAE Tour stages, a Tour de Guangxi stage, the Grand Prix de Denain, the Ronde van Brugge and many more. In total, five of those wins came at WorldTour level.

The issue at UAE was always structural. A team built around a five-time Tour de France winner simply does not prioritise sprint trains and fast finishes at the biggest races. Molano had Ivo Oliveira as his primary lead-out man and rarely got the kind of sprint setup that dedicated sprinting teams can provide.

He spent his peak years at a team where sprinting was always secondary, and at 31 he has made the logical call to move somewhere he can be first option. Lotto-Intermarche, losing Arnaud De Lie to Tudor, needed a proven sprinter and Molano fills that gap on a two-year deal. “Here I’ll be a pure sprinter again, and I can’t wait. I also dream of the Tour de France, which I’ve never raced before. That will be a huge motivation for me,” he said.

Arrieta and Herregodts: two departures that sting

Igor Arrieta’s move to Lidl-Trek is a loss of a different kind - not a key Tour de France domestique, but a promising young rider who had just begun to justify the hype around him. The 23-year-old Spaniard won a Giro d’Italia stage in Potenza in 2026 in dramatic fashion, finished eighth at the Itzulia Basque Country and third at the AlUla Tour.

He was never going to be a Tour de France regular at UAE given the competition for climbing spots, and Lidl-Trek offer him the chance to develop in a slightly less crowded environment. His departure is understandable from both sides.

Rune Herregodts is officially still without a signed contract, but reports indicate a three-year deal with Movistar is essentially agreed. The Belgian national champion spent two seasons at UAE as a versatile rouleur and classics helper, rarely getting the chance to race for himself.

He was clear about his reasons for leaving: “I also hope to be able to ride more for myself,” he said publicly. At Movistar he will have more freedom in races that suit his profile, and his Belgian title win showed exactly what he is capable of when given the opportunity.

The under-23 losses: Ramirez and Fabries 

Perhaps the most bittersweet aspect of UAE’s transfer window is what is happening at development level. Both Mateo Ramirez and Ugo Fabries, the two standout performers from the Gen Z team in 2026, are leaving without ever getting a shot at the WorldTour squad.

Ramirez, a 20-year-old Ecuadorian, had an excellent 2026 by any measure. He finished second overall at the Giro Next Gen, won a stage at the Valle d’Aosta race, and then came fourth overall at the Tour de l’Avenir - the most prestigious under-23 stage race in the world - finishing just four seconds off the podium. He heads to Movistar for 2027, where he will get his first WorldTour contract.

Fabries, a 21-year-old Frenchman who is the 2025 French under-23 road race champion, finished sixth overall at the Tour de l’Avenir and second on one of the mountain stages behind Lorenzo Finn. He signs with Jayco-AlUla for 2027. Both are solid GC prospects at under-23 level and the fact that neither has a path into UAE’s WorldTour roster, despite their performances, says everything about how deep and crowded the team’s talent pipeline really is.

In isolation, losing two genuinely talented young riders to rival teams without ever giving them a chance to prove themselves at the top level is a missed opportunity. In the context of a team that already has Pogacar, del Toro, Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty, and a host of other high-quality climbers, it is simply a numbers game. There is no room. And so Ramirez and Fabries go elsewhere to grow, carrying with them the development and investment UAE put into them - and the potential to become thorns in their former team’s side somewhere down the road.