Tom Pidcock's fresh start
January 24 th 2025 - 17:34 [GMT + 3]
From January 28 to February 1st, British star Tom Pidcock will be showing off his new Q36.5 colours in Saudi Arabia at the fifth edition of the AlUla Tour (formerly Saudi Tour).
The clash of the world’s top sprinters promises a Dylan Groenewegen-Tim Merlier duel.
Blake Quick and Stefan de Bod will be the ones to watch among the Asian teams.
In the past three editions of the AlUla Tour, the winner of the queen stage at the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid has also claimed the final overall classification, successively Belgium’s Maxim Van Gils (2022), Portugal’s Ruben Guerreiro (2023) and Great Britain’s Simon Yates (2024). But this year, things look different with the unprecedented course of stage 2 leading up to Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah, a 2.9km climb with an average gradient of 9.2% and a maximum at 15%, to be covered three times in the last fifty kilometres, the summit being the finishing location on that day.
This race profile should appeal to Tom Pidcock, an explosive rider with a background in cyclo-cross (2022 world champion) and mountain biking (2020 Olympic champion in Tokyo and 2024 in Paris). He’ll resume racing in Saudi Arabia following his winter transfer from Ineos Grenadiers, the team where he made his professional debut on the road in 2021, to Q36.5, a second tier Swiss squad with aspirations of competing at the world’s highest level. The British star is now the sole leader, according to his wish, to demonstrate the full extent of his potential on the road, highlighted so far by one worthy success every year (Flèche brabançonne 2021, Tour de France stage at l’Alpe d’Huez in 2022, Strade Bianche 2023 and Amstel Gold Race 2024). For the first time in ten years, he has stayed away from cyclo-cross over the winter to prepare as best he can for the 2025 season, when he will have to shoulder the burden of the decisions made for his career.
However, he is not the sole favourite for an AlUla Tour that is particularly coveted by the locally-sponsored Australian team Jayco-AlUla. After leading Simon Yates to overall victory last year, this time around they are counting on Irishman Eddie Dundar revealed at the 2019 Giro d'Italia (stage win and 7th overall), who fully regained his confidence by winning two stages of La Vuelta last year. His characteristics correlate with the route. And a mountain biker background is really needed to win, Jayco-AlUla has a trump card up its sleeve in the form of South African Alan Hatherly, who will make his professional road debut at the AlUla Tour after he shared the podium with Pidcock at the Paris Olympics MTB event (bronze medallist).
The favourite team of Saudi cycling fans (apart from the national team, which will also be back in action) is equally travelling with great ambitions in the stages likely to end in a massive bunch sprint, at AlManshiyah Train Station, Tayma and AlUla Camel Cup Track, which are held every other day. Its star sprinter, Dylan Groenewegen, recognisable by his Dutch champion’s jersey, has 74 professional victories under his belt, including six stages in the Tour de France (the last one in Dijon last year), and three in the AlUla Tour (two in 2022, one in 2023), making him the record holder in the young Saudi event. He is eager for revenge after being forced to abandon this race, which is close to his heart, due to illness last year.
His supremacy in the bunch sprints in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is already being challenged by Tim Merlier, the world’s most prolific sprinter last year (sixteen victories, with only Tadej Pogacar, on different terrains, having won more often). The European champion intends to leave the AlUla Camel Cup Track, where he opened his 2024 account, on the same footing. But just as last year’s top sprinters were surprised on the first day by Casper van Uden, there will be other fast Dutch riders in their path this time around: Fabio Jakobsen (74 career wins, 6 Tour de France stage wins and 3 AlUla Tour stage wins), new to the event, and Arvid de Kleijn, stage winner at Paris-Nice after failing to beat Merlier (2nd) at the AlUla Camel Cup Track. Norwegian veteran Alexander Kristoff, Colombian Juan Sebastian Molano, Czech rider Daniel Babor and Australian Blake Quick will also have their say in the mass finishes.
Blake Quick now defends the colours of Roojai, a team from Thailand. And South African rouleur Stefan De Bod carries the Malaysian flag with Terengganu. Both men are looking to re-establish themselves on the Asian circuit after losing their spot in the WorldTour, at Jayco-AlUla and EF Education-EasyPost respectively. The AlUla Tour, a UCI 2.1 race of the Asia Tour, welcomes the continent’s three highest-ranked teams, the third one being Japan’s JCL Team Ukyo, run by former Formula 1 driver Ukyo Katayama.