Team Jayco AlUla announce line up led by Eddie Dunbar and Dylan Groenewegen for AlUla Tour

Team Jayco AlUla has revealed its line-up for the upcoming AlUla Tour, headlined by Eddie Dunbar and Dylan Groenewegen. Dunbar, fresh off winning two stages at last year’s Vuelta a Espana, will lead the team’s general classification (GC) efforts, while Groenewegen, a six-time Tour de France stage winner (including one in 2024) will target stage wins.

The team will also feature 2024 world mountain bike champion Alan Hatherly, who is set to make his road racing debut. Hailing from South Africa, Hatherly will join a roster packed with talent and experience.

Eddie Dunbar shared his excitement about the race in a team press release, highlighting the unique opportunity to compete in Saudi Arabia. “I’m looking forward to the whole experience of racing the AlUla Tour. There’s a good few guys on the team who have been for last few years and from chatting to them, it’s sounds like a really good trip and it’s a good race as well, so I’m really looking forward to it looking forward to it.

“It’s a cool place to go racing, in the desert, it’s definitely an experience and obviously I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia either, so it’s going to be nice to experience a new country as well. Obviously AlUla is one of our main sponsors and that’s where we race, so it’s going to be cool to have a look around there as well.

“There’s a new GC day this year, so I’m happy about that and I’ve been training well so hopefully I can go there and put in a good performance and see what happens. From the guys who have raced it, they all say the climb on stage four is a horrible climb and it’s incredibly steep, it’s short, but very steep. But as I said, stage two is a tough stage as well, it’s a new stage this year so I’m really looking forward to that day.”

Sports director Andre Smith outlined the team’s goals for the race. “With Dylan we will be aiming for more stages wins and he has three opportunities that should be for him. The GC guys have two opportunities, and we’ve got Eddie who’s our GC goal.

“We bring in Alan Hatherly for his first race with the team, he knows that road racing is very different to mountain biking, but it’s a really good opportunity for him to get into supporting someone like Eddie and learning from him.”