A peace ride is the latest project. At the end of the cycling season next year, the Peace Race from Israel via Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates will take place for the first time.
All the stars should be there, money plays a subordinate role. Countries from the Middle East are playing an increasingly important role - and the heavyweight is yet to come.
Saudi Arabia
Since mid-June, there have been persistent rumours that the Saudi state fund PIF wants to take over the Jumbo-Visma team of current Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard. There are no denials, the previous sponsor Jumbo will withdraw at the end of 2024. Until now, Saudi Arabia has been a co-sponsor in the peloton, while the tourism agency of the Al-ʿUla region supports the Australian Jayco racing team. "I don't think you can fight back. And you shouldn't defend yourself against investors from the Middle East," Bora team boss Ralph Denk told Deutschlandfunk radio.
United Arab Emirates
The Arab money also helps Tadej Pogacar's UAE team to one of the top budgets in the peloton. Allegedly, only the British Ineos team has a larger budget of around 50 million euros. At the moment, UAE is allegedly luring the classics specialist Mathieu van der Poel with an annual salary of six million euros. But there are also cancellations. "I prefer to make the morally and ethically right choice," said the U23 time trial world champion Søren Wærenskjold and turned down an offer. Incidentally, the main sponsor of the Norwegian's team is the petrol station chain UnoX.
Bahrain
Most recently, Phil Bauhaus shone in the sprints, with Wout Poels and Pello Bilbao taking two stage wins. In the past two years, Bahrain-Victorious has been in the headlines due to doping investigations. The team hotel was searched during the 2021 Tour, and there were raids in several countries before last year's Grand Départ. The investigations are still ongoing. Human rights activists criticise the team for being a vehicle for Bahrain's sportswashing. The team emphasised that it was completely independent of the government.
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