Soren Waerenskjold refuses to race AlUla Tour 'because of human rights': "Gay rights, women's rights... there are many issues"
Cycling
The 2025 road cycling season is up and running and this week, a lot of the peloton are in Saudi Arabia for the AlUla Tour. Among the teams competing are Uno-X Mobility, but one man absent from the Scandinavian team's lineup is Soren Waerenskjold, who refuses to make the trip to Saudi Arabia for 'moral and ethical' reasons.
Waerenskjold has competed in Saudi Arabia before, winning a stage of the race in both 2023 and 2024. This year though, the 24-year-old has taken the step to rule himself out of selection for Uno-X Mobility. "I said I didn't want to go back, and the team respected that," he explains in conversation with TV2, from a team camp in Mallorca. "If the team had said I had to leave, I wouldn't have had any say in it. They're the bosses. But for my own part, I'll try to stay on the "right" side, so to speak."
Read also
The crux of the reasoning behind Waerenskjold's attempt to distance himself from the AlUla Tour are, as mentioned, 'moral and ethical' reasons. "It's because of human rights," he explains. "There is evidence of people being captured and killed because of their political views. Gay rights, women's rights... there are many issues."
"If you have the opportunity, I think it's positive to take a little distance. But then you have ASO, which is a very large organizer, which has a lot of business over there, so it quickly becomes a bit complicated," Waerenskjold continues, although he is also self-aware enough to admit that he himself taking a stand is unlikely to make much difference to the situation. "I'm just a simple cyclist who can make a simple choice. Systematic changes are probably difficult to achieve. And I don't really think that my distancing myself from it has any effect."
🇸🇦 #AlUlaTour - Stage 2️⃣
— طواف العلا | ALULATOUR (@thealulatour) January 29, 2025
🏁 145 km - 2’20’' ⏱
Behind the breakaway, Team Jayco AlUla sets the pace of the peloton.#طواف_العلا 🇸🇦
المرحلة 2️⃣
145 كيلو متر -’'202’ ⏱🏁#طواف_العلا #الرحلة_تستمر pic.twitter.com/mUwRvV8Ss0
Just in
NEW: WorldTour Manager Cyclinguptodate.com (FREE)
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- Not all doping cases are equal. I've known Rob Stannard since he was a kid. His suspension was for a bio-passport irregularity. Rob presented both a plausible explanation and medical evidence that WADA was unable to discredit. However they refused to accept it and in the CAS case Rob was told unless he was able to replicate the irregularities perfectly then his evidence wouldn't be accepted. However this was 4 years later and your body's biomarkers are different at 23 than at 19, so it was literally physically impossible to do what was required and so he was sanctioned in spite of wada being unable to demonstrate he had acted illegal. All this is to say that not all doping positives are evidence of cheatingPCR036818-03-2025
- Not all doping cases are equal. I've known Rob Stannard since he was a kid. His suspension was for a bio-passport irregularity. Rob presented both a plausible explanation and medical evidence that WADA was unable to discredit. However they refused to accept it and in the CAS case Rob was told unless he was able to replicate the irregularities perfectly then his evidence wouldn't be accepted. However this was 4 years later and your body's biomarkers are different at 23 than at 19, so it was literally physically impossible to do what was required and so he was sanctioned in spite of radars being unable to demonstrate he had acted illegal. All this is to say that not all doping positives are evidence of cheatingPCR036818-03-2025
- Yes, seriously, Z2. First of all, the race isn't 8 hours, it's a lot shorter. 2nd, if the team is protecting you/you're sitting in the bunch at 45km/h, these guys are definitely in Z2vappaxbipmv18-03-2025
- I had a deviated septum. Legacy of falling out of a tree on to my face. The op which was basically a hammer and chisel job, took a long time to get over. Even now years laterI'm susceptible to infections on one side of my sinuses. During high pollen count periods it's worse. It always held me back at times when endurence cycling. It's an extreme cure and I hope it works out for Jai.Cyclingsbestfan18-03-2025
- What about Astana? Tejada was pretty impressive in PN and Fortunato too, he had a solid ride on the only real mountain stage of 2025 TA. And there's also Ulissi.heinz18-03-2025
- Ayuso seems to be all about himself.. 🤷
leedorney18-03-2025 - Hey CUTD, nothing against your favourite insider but it’s a bit disrespectful to quite a few ladies to highlight Urska both in bold and in the title!Jumpyjohn18-03-2025
- Ayuso no works for the others: usually he runs hidden in the back of the pack to avoid working. Maybe he's not a good teammate, maybe he reaps what he sows. Personally, he is one of the few riders that I find unpleasant.
maria2024202418-03-2025 - Thought I’d share a nice thread discovered on the subject of Mrs Trump’s nationality : « A country that is able to produce the humility and fearlessness of Matej Mohorič, the playfulness and rule bending of Tadej Pogačar and the ability to stand against adversity as Primož Roglič, has nothing to gain from the values of the first lady. And that is only cycling. Mute Report Sirtracy OneMillionMonkeys 8 Jan Tratnik looks as fit as me and has won a stage at the Giro d'Italia. If that's not inspirational, I don't know what is. Mute Report GrouchoBlondini77 OneMillionMonkeys 7 Fully agree. And you can add Jan Tratnik to the list of Slovenian cycling stars. What are they putting in the water there? Mute Report OneMillionMonkeys Sirtracy 7 How could I forget Tratnik. Thanks » By the way, Sam Bennett seems awfully quiet at the moment, any news on him anyone?Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Based on desires and current rate of improvement he is likely to reach MJ level before the likes of (for starters) TP, JV & RE and even PR retire. It was not an exclusive list and I don’t claim to or want to know every discussable rider’s age unless it becomes necessary :-)Mistermaumau18-03-2025