Ahead of the Tour de France Femmes 2026, the team has changed its name to UAE Team L'IMAD, but the objective of the Emirati team led by Elisa Longo Borghini is clear: to be protagonists from Lausanne to Nice, throughout all nine stages of the race.

The UAE Team L'IMAD presenting itself at the start of the third Grand Tour of 2026 is certainly well-armed and multi-faceted. Alongside Longo Borghini will be: Paula Blasi, winner of the Vuelta Espana Femenina, Maeva Squiban, winner of two stages in the 2025 edition of the Tour, Silvia Persico, Polish national road and time trial champion Dominika Włodarczyk, Mavi García and Brodie Chapman.

The experienced Australian rider explained during yesterday's press conference that being able to count on multiple leaders will be the strength of the Emirati team at this Tour de France. Then, joking with those asking her for clarification on team roles, she added: "This will remain a secret that will be revealed during the race. My role in supporting the team, however, is very clear".

ELISA LONGO BORGHINI. The Italian champion expressed satisfaction with her preparation for the competition. "The preparation has gone well. We spent about twenty days at altitude in the Dolomites with our teammates, we are ready". Elisa then explained how she has prepared to face the high temperatures of this period: "Joking, I could say that my best training came at the Tour de Suisse when I suffered heat stroke, but seriously I tried to accustom myself to high temperatures with sauna and heat baths, I trained during the warmer parts of the day. I hope everything goes well". On the importance of the Tour de France Femmes, the Italian champion stated: "This race is certainly a wonderful showcase for women's cycling, it is able to inspire new generations of girls who want to approach cycling with the goal of one day reaching the Tour". The Piedmont native then added which stages she could be a protagonist in: "It all depends on how the general classification looks, but the stages that suit me best are the fifth, with finish in Belleville en Beaujolais, and also the ninth, with start and finish in Nice. As I said, however, everything will depend on the general classification".

PAULA BLASI. The young Spanish rider, at her first participation in the Tour de France Femmes, did not hide some emotion at the thought of her debut: "Every cyclist dreams of the Tour. Being able to face it, gain experience and grow alongside the team in the greatest stage race in the world will be a wonderful experience". Unlike her teammates, Paula trained in Andorra and, responding on the subject, she said: "I adopted more or less the same strategy I used to prepare for the Vuelta and everything went quite well. Although the fall on the eve of the national championships forced me to slow down my preparation and for two weeks I couldn't ride my time trial bike, but I believe the time trial we face at the fourth stage has a nice course".

MAEVA SQUIBAN. "The Tour de France Femmes is perhaps the toughest race of the season, but being able to compete in it is always a pleasure. This is my fourth participation and I can't wait to be racing. Being able to face a different course every year is very nice, and in particular this year climbing Mont Ventoux will be something spectacular" said the 24-year-old native of Brest. Then, giving indications about what her role will be, she added: "The team is at the Tour both for the general classification and to win stages, we'll see how the race goes. My main task will be to support the leaders, I can't know now what will happen, obviously if there are opportunities I will try to seize them. We will evaluate stage by stage". Forced to withdraw from the Vuelta due to a crash, Maeva wanted to reassure everyone: "I have fully recovered. It was a somewhat long recovery but the accident is only a distant memory now".

YANA SEE CONCLUDES HER EXPERIENCE AS TEAM MANAGER. With a note sent shortly before the start of the pre-Tour press conference, UAE Team L'IMAD announced the conclusion of its collaboration with Team Manager Yana See, "following the completion of a structured transition period".