Their first duel of 2026 will take place in Arabia, in the enchanting scenario of AlUla's archaeological wonders, a city located on the incense route with artifacts dating back more than two thousand years. Here comes the sixth edition of the AlUla Tour, from Tuesday 27 to Saturday 31 January, five stages and the seasonal debut of the two fastest sprinters in the world: Jonathan Milan against Flemish Tim Merlier. From the battles of the 2025 Tour de France, two wins each, to the new season of sprints.

The race, previously known as Saudi Tour, has been promoted by UCI to ProSeries category in 2026 and will welcome Milan's Lidl-Trek for the first time, the Friulian who has already won a stage here in 2023 (January 31st at Shalal Sijlyat Rocks) when he was racing for Bahrain Victorious. Milan has since grown year after year, winning 4 Giro stages (twice the points jersey) and two Tour stages with the green jersey in 2025, at his French debut. At 25, with 25 victories and growing performance in cobbled classics (2nd at De Panne and 3rd at Gand-Wevelgem), the track Olympic and world champion aims to achieve an increasingly important status. Tim Merlier, 33 years old, races for Soudal-Quick Step, has won four stages at AlUla Tour (2 in 2024 and 2 in 2025) and, in his career, 4 Giro stages and 3 Tour stages.

In the five racing days, opportunities for sprinters come immediately in the first stage (Camel Cup Track), the second (AlManshiyah) and the fourth (Shalal). With Merlier and Milan, there will be Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello-Q36.5), who won the final stage in 2025; Matteo Malucelli (Xds Astana), Daniel Skerl (Bahrain Victorious), Iuri Leitao (Caja Rural) and Milan Fretin (Cofidis).

Regarding the final classification (last year's victory by Tom Pidcock), the key stages will be the third (Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah), 4.9 km at 5.1%, and the fifth and final, Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid (3 km at 12%), where Van Gils, Guerreiro, Simon Yates and Pidcock have raised their arms since 2022. Jayco-AlUla, a WorldTour team directed by Brent Copeland and sponsored directly by the UNESCO site, will field Paul Double, winner of the 2025 Tour of Guangxi, and Alan Hatherly, sixth at AlUla Tour 2025, one of the season's revelations: the South African comes from mountain biking and was bronze medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Among other riders to watch, here's Slovenian Jakob Omrzel, 19 years old, winner of the 2025 Giro Next Gen and now with Bahrain Victorious team; Swiss Jan Christen, 21, and Spanish Igor Arrieta, 23, who will lead UAE Emirates XRG, while Nicolas Vinokourov, 23, will be the star of Xds Astana.

Stages:

1st, Tuesday 27 January, AlUla Camel Cup Track-AlUla Camel Cup Track, 158 km;

2nd, Wednesday 28, AlManshiyah Train Station-AlManshiyah Train Station, 152 km;

3rd, Thursday 29, Winter Park-Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah, 142.1km;

4th, Friday 30, Winter Park-Shalal Sijlyat Rocks, 184 km;

5th, Saturday 31, AlUla Old Town-Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid, 163.9 km.

Teams:

17 teams of 7 riders, 119 riders in total. 7 WorldTour teams: Bahrain Victorious, Lidl-Trek, Jayco-AlUla, UAE Emirates-XRG, Soudal Quick-Step, Picnic-PostNL, XDS Astana. Six Professional teams: Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Pinarello-Q36.5, TotalEnergies, Tudor, Cofidis and Modern Aventure. Plus 4 Continental and National teams: Terengganu, Team Ukyo, Saudi national team, Oman national team.