WorldTour leaders integrate AI-powered sleep technology into training, racing, and recovery to gain a competitive edge where performance begins: overnight
ABU DHABI & NEW YORK — 20 January 2026 — UAE Team Emirates XRG, one of the most successful teams in professional cycling, today announced a new partnership with Eight Sleep, the world’s leading sleep technology company, to support rider recovery and performance throughout the 2026 season.
As margins at the top of the sport continue to narrow, UAE Team Emirates XRG is deepening its investment in science-backed recovery. While modalities such as massage, compression, cryotherapy, and nutrition play important roles, sleep remains the only recovery process that is both foundational and repeatable every night, directly governing adaptation, hormonal regulation, cardiovascular recovery, and long-term resilience. Optimizing sleep represents the highest-leverage opportunity to improve recovery without adding training load.
Through this partnership, the team will deploy the Pod by Eight Sleep, an intelligent, AI-powered sleep system that actively optimizes the sleep environment in real time, across training camps, altitude blocks, and key races.
Unlike traditional recovery tools that operate for minutes or hours, the Pod works throughout the entire night. It is a fully integrated hardware-software system that sits directly on the bed like a mattress cover, measuring physiological signals such as heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and sleep stages, then automatically adjusting temperature and sleep conditions to improve recovery while the athlete sleeps. For elite cyclists facing constant travel, stage-race fatigue, altitude exposure, and disrupted schedules, sleep is one of the few recovery levers that can be optimized consistently, night after night.
Eight Sleep’s technology has been clinically validated to increase deep sleep by up to 34% and improve cardiovascular recovery by up to 15%—outcomes directly linked to endurance, readiness, and sustained performance over multi-week race calendars. Riders and performance staff will also gain access to longitudinal sleep and recovery insights, enabling more personalized decisions around training load, travel adaptation, and race preparation.
“At this level, performance is not just built on the bike, it’s built overnight,” said Jeroen Swart, Head of Performance of UAE Team Emirates XRG. “Recovery is essential to sustaining performance across a long and demanding season. Eight Sleep brings a level of precision and personalization to sleep that aligns with how we approach every other aspect of performance.”
The partnership was sparked by early adoption at the individual rider level, most notably by four-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar, who integrated the Pod by Eight Sleep into his personal recovery routine. After experiencing noticeable improvements in recovery, particularly during demanding multi-stage races, the technology quickly became a trusted part of his daily regimen. As its impact became clear, the solution drew broader interest within the team, reinforcing the importance of sleep as a critical performance lever at the highest level of competition, both at home and throughout Grand Tours.
Eight Sleep is already trusted by elite athletes across cycling, tennis, Formula 1, endurance sports, and other professional leagues globally. Its AI platform is trained on hundreds of millions of hours of real-world sleep data, bringing a closed-loop, data-driven approach to recovery that mirrors the sophistication of modern training systems.
“We are proud to partner with UAE Team Emirates XRG, a team that defines excellence at the highest level of sport,” said Matteo Franceschetti, Co-Founder & CEO of Eight Sleep. “When the difference between winning and losing is measured in seconds, consistent recovery becomes a strategic advantage. Our mission is to help athletes recover faster, adapt better, and perform at their best night after night.”
The partnership will roll out during the team’s pre-season performance testing and training camps and extend across the 2026 racing calendar. Deployment will span both the UAE Team Emirates XRG WorldTour squad and the team’s Gen Z development program, supporting established leaders and emerging talent alike, including Adam Yates, João Almeida and Isaac del Toro, and reinforcing a long-term commitment to innovation, science, and marginal gains that compound over time.
About Eight Sleep
Eight Sleep is the first company to bring sleep fitness to the world by combining technology, physiology, and data to unlock deeper sleep and better health. Its products are trusted by high performers, professional athletes, like F1 driver Charles Leclerc and top American tennis player Taylor Fritz, as well as health-conscious consumers across the globe. Recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2019, 2022, and 2023, and twice named to TIME’s “Best Inventions of the Year,” Eight Sleep continues to redefine the future of sleep. Its products are available in over 35 countries at eightsleep.com.
About UAE Team Emirates XRG
UAE Team Emirates XRG is one of the premier teams in professional cycling, competing at the highest level of the UCI WorldTour. With a multinational roster of top athletes, the team is committed to driving innovation, performance, and excellence in the sport.
