NEOM City, the world's largest architectural project located in Saudi Arabia, is considering taking over the lead sponsorship of the Jumbo-Visma cycling team from 2024. According to a Middle Eastern source close to the situation, NEOM is seriously exploring the world of cycling and sees sponsorship of the leading team as a unique opportunity.
NEOM City is an ambitious project that will encompass numerous cities, resorts and diverse developments. With a planned area of 26,500 km² (almost the size of Belgium), NEOM will stretch for 460 kilometers along the Red Sea coast. The project is majority financed by the Public Investment Fund, which invests on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government. According to the Saudi company in charge of NEOM's development, the fund is contributing $500 billion to the project.
This megaproject is part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, a plan to diversify the country's economy and reduce dependence on oil revenues. According to the ambitious timelines set, much of NEOM should be built by 2030. The first part to be completed will be the luxury island of Sindalah, with the intention of welcoming the first guests in early 2024. This would be an ideal time to launch a major sponsorship campaign.
Richard Plugge, CEO of Jumbo-Visma, describes the interest from the Middle East as "interesting". So far, Plugge says he has had no contact with NEOM representatives. However, he acknowledges that they may be in contact with one of the agencies in charge of finding new sponsors for the team. The team is currently in serious talks with several international companies, but there are no concrete agreements yet.
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NEOM presents itself as a project committed to sustainability, seeking to build a carbon neutral city, without cars or streets, and powered entirely by wind and solar energy. In this sense, cycling fits perfectly with the image NEOM aims to project.
NEOM calls itself "the future of sports" and aspires to become a global sports hub. The project aims to partner with international sports brands, organize major sporting events and promote an excellent quality of life for its residents, thus contributing to NEOM's innovative economy.
Sport has become an important political tool for Saudi leaders in recent years. Stijn Janssen, a Dutch tax economist based in the Middle East who has been involved in several major sports deals, also agrees with this view. Saudi Arabia has been making big investments in cycling including the new Saudi Tour, the sponsorship of Team Jayco AlUla and possible move into Movistar team as well - in other sports the financial spending has been incredibly high with the same purpose.
NEOM's potential sponsorship of Jumbo-Visma represents a new opportunity for both the cycling team and the Saudi project amidst the departure of title sponsor Jumbo. As negotiations progress, details are expected to be finalized and it is expected to be revealed whether NEOM City will become the team's new title sponsor as of 2024, which would certainly mark a significant milestone in the relationship between cycling and NEOM's ambitious project.
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Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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#Sponsoring 💶 / 🇸🇦 Neom City, le célèbre projet saoudien de ville futuriste, serait sur le point de devenir le sponsor titre de la Jumbo-Visma après le retrait de la marque de supermarchés. wielerflits.nl/nieuws/neom-ci…
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