PREVIEW | AlUla Tour 2025 - Can Tom Pidcock win his first race of the year?

The AlUla Tour will be the second stage-race of the season, and the first outside of Australia for the men's peloton. Saudi Arabia's most important race in the calendar attracts a few good names every year, with an interesting route that will be raced from the 28th January to the 1st of Feburary. We preview the race ahead.

The race starts off in the city of Al Manshiyah where the first stage will have it's start and finish. A pan-flat day well suited to the sprinters, where we should have the first star-studded sprint of the year.

The AlUla Tour will provide the lovers of steep climbs with a big treat. Stage 2 may be the most important day of the race, where the riders will on two occasions climb to Bir Jaydah, a climb that is 1.6 kilometers at 12% but where the riders face a very long 15% section, with a summit finish.

Stage 3 takes place from Hegra to the Tayma Fort, another flat and exposed day where a sprint is virtually certain but crosswinds can also shape up the race and the overall classification quite a lot.

Stage 4 is completely flat until the final ascent to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid. It is 2.5 kilometers at 12% average gradient and a maximum of... 22%. In the desert and which such gradients, we can certainly expect explosive racing - with the final flat 8.5 kilometers providing a tactical aspect to this day. 

The race finishes in the city of AlUla, whom the race is named after, and it will have both it's start and finish on... A camel track. Can't say the race is afraid to inovate, on a final day that suits the sprinters.

*** Tom Pidcock, Eddie Dunbar
** Rafal Majka, Frank van den Broek
* Yannis Voisard, Jordan Jegat, Abner González, Fredrik Dversnes

Pick: Eddie Dunbar