Marco Frigo will join UAE Team Emirates-XRG from the start of the 2027 season after signing a two-year contract with the Emirati squad.
The 26-year-old Italian has agreed a deal running through to the end of 2028, adding another versatile stage-race and Classics option to UAE’s increasingly deep roster.
Frigo arrives after four seasons in the professional ranks, during which he has developed into a rider capable of contributing in the mountains, working for team leaders and taking his own opportunities from breakaways.
His progression included a first professional victory at the 2025 Tour of the Alps, while 2026 brought another significant step as he completed his first Tour de France.
“I think the first four years as a pro have been a process where I shaped and found my identity as a rider,” Frigo said in UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s announcement.
“I feel UAE understood that, believed in it, and that our ideas about the future are very much aligned.”
Frigo adds another versatile rider to UAE’s roster
Frigo’s value is not tied to one obvious speciality.
He can climb sufficiently well to remain useful deep into difficult stage races, has the endurance required for breakaways and one-day races, and has increasingly demonstrated an ability to convert opportunities when given freedom.
That profile fits a UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad that regularly divides responsibility across several leaders rather than building every race around one protected rider.
Frigo is unlikely to arrive as an automatic leader for the biggest WorldTour events, but that is not necessarily what UAE require from him.
The Italian can contribute around the team’s Grand Tour contenders while still receiving opportunities in smaller stage races, mountain breakaways and selected Classics.
That balance appears to have been one of the attractions of the move.
“With that said, I can’t wait to transform the big motivation I feel into the next years and contribute to the team achieving its big goals,” Frigo said.
Tour of the Alps victory showed Frigo’s potential
Frigo’s first professional victory came during the 2025 Tour of the Alps and offered a good example of the type of rider UAE are signing.
Rather than relying on a sprint or waiting for a protected role, Frigo used an aggressive race situation to take a solo stage victory.
It was an important result after several seasons in which he had regularly shown himself in breakaways without always converting those efforts into wins.
That willingness to race aggressively has remained one of the more recognisable elements of his development.
Frigo is particularly useful on medium-mountain terrain where the race is difficult enough to favour strong climbers but not necessarily controlled exclusively by the principal GC teams.
Those are exactly the stages where a squad such as UAE can use its depth to its advantage.
If the main leaders are being protected for the overall classification, riders like Frigo can be sent into moves and force rivals to decide whether they are worth chasing.
First Tour de France completed in 2026
Frigo reached another career milestone this summer by completing his first Tour de France with NSN Cycling Team.
He entered the race as one of the team’s main breakaway options for the 2026 Tour de France, alongside Krists Neilands and Matis Louvel.
That role was visible repeatedly during the race.
Frigo made the break on Stage 4 to Foix, taking maximum points over one of the categorised climbs as NSN looked to use the more difficult stages aggressively.
He continued to feature in breakaways later in the Tour, including on the demanding road towards Le Lioran on Stage 10.
That experience should be valuable for UAE.
Completing a Grand Tour requires considerably more than simply climbing well. Riders have to position leaders, manage long transitional stages, work in difficult weather and continue performing after two weeks of accumulated fatigue.
At 26, Frigo joins UAE having already experienced those demands but still with considerable room to develop further.
A rider built for breakaways and harder stages
Frigo’s Tour also reinforced what his new team are getting.
He is not a pure mountain domestique and he is not a conventional one-day specialist.
His strongest role sits somewhere between those categories.
ProCyclingUK identified Frigo as one of NSN’s natural breakaway options during the final week of the Tour, particularly on rolling and medium-mountain terrain where he could survive repeated climbing before attacking.
That versatility matters for UAE.
A team competing for Grand Tours needs riders who can spend entire days protecting a leader, but it also needs riders capable of changing the tactical situation themselves.
Frigo can be sent ahead into a breakaway as a satellite rider, used to support a leader later in a mountain stage or given freedom when the team’s GC ambitions do not require full control.
He also has enough one-day ability to contribute outside stage racing. Earlier this season, Frigo formed part of NSN’s core for races including La Flèche Wallonne and the Tour de Romandie, further illustrating the range of terrain on which he can be useful.
UAE continue building beyond their headline leaders
The signing is another example of UAE Team Emirates-XRG continuing to strengthen the riders beneath their biggest stars.
Much of the attention naturally falls on the team’s established Grand Tour leaders and major race winners, but maintaining that level of success also depends on riders capable of filling multiple roles.
Frigo fits that category.
He can work for a leader in a Grand Tour, pursue stages when given freedom and contribute in the one-day programme without requiring a team to be built around him.
That versatility becomes particularly valuable across a long season in which UAE compete for victories almost everywhere they start.
The two-year agreement through 2028 also gives both sides time to develop that role rather than treating the transfer as a short-term reinforcement.
A significant next step for Frigo
For Frigo, the move represents the biggest team change of his professional career so far.
His first four seasons have established the outline of the rider he can become: aggressive, durable and strong enough uphill to remain relevant on demanding terrain.
The next question is how much further that profile can develop within UAE’s structure.
His own comments suggest that was central to the decision.
“I feel UAE understood that, believed in it, and that our ideas about the future are very much aligned,” he said.
That development will begin from the start of the 2027 season.
Frigo arrives with a Tour de France already completed, a professional victory on his palmarès and enough versatility to contribute across several parts of UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s programme.
The challenge now is turning that platform into the next stage of his career.
