{"id":1774642,"date":"2026-02-16T09:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T06:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1774642"},"modified":"2026-02-16T09:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T06:32:20","slug":"uae-is-harvesting-victories-wellens-roars-to-teams-12th-win-of-season-at-the-spanish-strade-bianche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1774642","title":{"rendered":"UAE Is Harvesting Victories: Wellens Roars to Team’s 12th Win of Season at ‘The Spanish Strade Bianche’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tim Wellens spearheaded a tactical masterclass on the gravel tracks of Cl\u00e1sica Ja\u00e9n on Monday to make it two wins in a day for UAE Emirates-XRG.<\/p>\n
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The Belgian champ blasted out of a lead group at around 55km to go in the so-called \u201cSpanish Strade Bianche\u201d and profited from having four teammates neutralizing the chasers.<\/p>\n
Pre-race favorite Tom Pidcock was left frustrated and disappointed with a second-place finish after he missed the crucial early splits.<\/p>\n
The all-terrain star was able to bridge across to the lead group behind Wellens in the final hour of racing and launch another 3-rider move in the final 10km, but by then, it was too late.<\/p>\n
Wellens\u2019 teammate Jan Christen played interference, and Pidcock ran out of road.<\/p>\n
Christen was third across the line after he, Pidcock, and fellow attacker Maxim van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) contested the sprint.<\/p>\n
However, he was later DQd by race officials after he was judged to \u201cshut the door\u201d on Van Gils in the 3-up kick.<\/p>\n
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Van Gils crashed hard, but was later able to ride to the finish looking stunned and shaky.<\/p>\n
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\ud83e\udee3 Pidcock takes the second place ahead of Christen. Nasty crash from Van Gils <\/p>\n
\u2014 Cl\u00e1sica Ja\u00e9n Para\u00edso Interior (@ClasicaJaen) February 16, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
But even with Christen\u2019s disqualification, UAE Emirates still got two riders on the final podium Monday afternoon. New signing Beno\u00eet Cosnefroy was \u201cpromoted\u201d to third after he was the fourth rider to finish.<\/p>\n
Wellens was near-faultless in his long solo through Ja\u00e9n\u2019s olive groves except for one narrow escape when he nearly slid out on a fast stoney corner.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old kept it upright in the late-race scare and fended off the chase for an impressive 35-second win, the 42nd of his vastly underrated career.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a long time coming for Wellens, who already placed second and third in the four-year history of the race.<\/p>\n
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Wellens continues UAE\u2019s early-season rampage at Cl\u00e1sica Ja\u00e9n<\/h2>\nWellens and Cosnefroy (right) made it two on the podium for team UAE after Christen (left) was DQd.<\/span> (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
With victories Monday from Wellens in Spain and Isaac del Toro at the UAE Tour, team UAE Emirates-XRG is harvesting victories in 2026 like they\u2019re Ja\u00e9n\u2019s plump olives.<\/p>\n
The super squad now counts 12 wins from 8 different riders after only 6 weeks of racing \u2013 and Tadej Poga\u010dar hasn\u2019t even started yet.<\/p>\n
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Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe is next-best on 8 wins in 2026.<\/p>\n
UAE Emirates-XRG famously broke the season-single win record last year with 97 victories from 20 different riders.<\/p>\n
Triple digits is the target for 2026, and at this rate, it\u2019s looking more than realistic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2261964956.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated February 16, 2026 10:04AM Tim Wellens spearheaded a tactical masterclass on the gravel tracks of Cl\u00e1sica Ja\u00e9n on Monday to make it two wins in a day for UAE Emirates-XRG. The Belgian champ blasted out of a lead group at around 55km to go in the so-called \u201cSpanish Strade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1774642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1774642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1774642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1774642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1774642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Wellens](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2261967974.jpg?width=2048&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")