Could Saudi Arabia soon own a large slice of cycling? - GCN Racing News Show

Amongst all of last year’s drama surrounding Jumbo-Visma at the Vuelta a España, the failed Visma-Soudal merger and the large turnover of staff at Ineos Grenadiers, the news of a new cycling league has been bubbling away under the surface, but looks to finally dominate the news cycle in 2024.

It has long been heavily speculated that any new cycling league would receive the controversial backing of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Reuters has now broken the news that a PIF-backed company, SRJ Sports Investments, has opened exclusive negotiations to pump €250 million into the project.

The new proposed cycling league, which is currently without the support of the organisers of the three Grand Tours, ASO and RCS, has earned the interest of eight WorldTeams along with the company Flanders Classics, who host many of the calendar's big one-day races.

In a new league, the cycling calendar would be compacted to circa 100 race days and with the guarantee of the teams involved, see the world's best riders go head to head far more frequently. What Saudi Arabia is hoping to get in return for their investment is yet to be fully understood, but allegations of sports-washing persist.

This brings Saudi interest in cycling to the forefront once again, the same week that Simon Yates won the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia, riding for the Saudi-sponsored Jayco AlUla squad.

Last year at the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium, GCN spoke to Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Sepp Kuss (now Visma-Lease a Bike) about the possible rejig of the cycling calendar, and despite the news being just hours old at that point, both riders were quick to pick up on the positives and negatives of a new league. On the one hand, it might offer a more structured and less complicated cycling calendar to follow, but on the other, we may see some smaller but historic races cease to exist.

Read more: 'We like it as it is' – Ciccone questions need for change in light of new cycling league plans

On this week’s GCN Racing News Show, Dan Lloyd delves into the latest reports and discusses what it all might mean for the future of cycling, both good and bad. Is it fine that we lose a few races in search of a more profitable sport, or is cycling trying to fix a problem that simply isn’t there? We would love to hear your thoughts as well, so get involved in the discussion in the comments below!

Speaking of the AlUla Tour, Dan is also here to deliver all the news of actual racing that has continued at a canter over the past week, with the aforementioned Yates saving the race for Jayco AlUla in Saudi Arabia. Away from the decisive day in the general classification, the AlUla Tour delivered entertaining racing and stage wins for young talents such as Casper van Uden (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility).

Read more:

• ‘We knew we could do it’ - Casper van Uden unsurprised by first pro win at AlUla Tour
• Tim Merlier wins photo finish sprint at AlUla Tour after late crash befalls peloton

There is plenty more racing for Dan to reflect on, not least of which is the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, alongside the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Étoile de Bessèges and the Vuelta CV Feminas.

To round out this week’s show, we have hope at last delivered to the Tours of Britain, and Dan, a former top-10 finisher himself in what some are heralding the sixth Monument - yes, he forced us to write this - casts an eye on the latest changes to the Strade Bianche route.