Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates already have their own cycling teams. Saudi Arabia has their sights set on the Tour winner’s team. A professional doesn’t want to be bought.
A peace journey is the latest project. At the end of the cycling season there will be the Peace Race from Israel via Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates for the first time next year.
All the stars should be there, money plays a subordinate role. Middle Eastern countries are playing an increasingly important role – and the heavyweight is probably yet to come.
Saudi Arabia
Since mid-June there has been a persistent rumor that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF wants to take over the Jumbo-Visma team from current Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard. There are no denials, the previous sponsor Jumbo will withdraw at the end of 2024. So far, Saudi Arabia has acted as a co-sponsor in the peloton, and the Al-ʿUla region’s tourism agency supports the Australian Jayco racing team. “I don’t think you can defend yourself. And you shouldn’t defend yourself against investors from the Middle East,” said Bora team boss Ralph Denk on Deutschlandfunk.
United Arab Emirates
The Arab money is also helping Tadej Pogacar’s Team UAE to one of the top budgets in the peloton. Allegedly, only the British Ineos team has a larger budget of around 50 million euros. UAE is said to be luring the classics specialist Mathieu van der Poel with an annual salary of six million euros. But there are also cancellations. “I prefer to meet the moral and estr.c1514036236dd90216ae532183655d55.css”>
Source: Stern
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