Saudi desert stage race
Sprints beside rock-cut tombs and a mirrored concert hall, crosswinds on open desert roads, and one climb with a ramp of 22 percent.
Next edition Jan 25–29, 2027
The AlUla Tour is a five-day men's cycling stage race in the desert of northwest Saudi Arabia, held in late January or early February. It began in 2020 as the Saudi Tour, on roads around Riyadh, moved to the AlUla oasis in 2022 and took the region's name in 2024. In every edition held at AlUla, from 2022 to 2026, the rider who won the stage to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid also won the race.
The AlUla Tour is a five-day men’s stage race in the desert of northwest Saudi Arabia, at the start of the road season. About three of the five stages are laid out for sprinters. In every edition at AlUla from 2022 to 2026, the race went to the winner of the stage over its steepest climb.
The race began in February 2020 as the Saudi Tour. Amaury Sport Organisation drew a star-shaped course of five stages around Riyadh, the capital. Rui Costa won the first stage on an uphill finish at Jaww, and after that the leader’s green jersey passed between two sprinters, Phil Bauhaus and Nacer Bouhanni.
Bouhanni started the last stage 2 seconds ahead of Bauhaus. On the finishing straight at Al Masmak, Mark Cavendish led Bauhaus out, Bauhaus beat Bouhanni to the line, and the first edition was his by 2 seconds.
The race took the name of the region that has hosted it since 2022. The 2021 edition was not held because of the pandemic, and when the Saudi Tour came back in February 2022 it had left Riyadh for AlUla, an oasis region in the northwest of the country. The fourth edition, in 2024, was the first under the new name.
AlUla supplies the places where the stages start and finish. Hegra, the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Saudi Arabia, has more than 110 tombs cut into the rock, and in 2022 and 2023 the peloton crossed it on a gravel road. Stages have also started among the mud-brick houses of the Old Town, at AlManshiyah, a station of the old Hijaz Railway, and beside Maraya, a concert hall faced with 9,740 mirrored panels.
The move gave the race a climb that the Riyadh edition did not have. The road to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid, a viewpoint on a volcanic plateau above the oasis, rises for about 4 kilometers, with one kilometer at an average of 17 percent and a ramp of 22 percent. The top is not the finish: about 8 kilometers of flat road follow.
In each of the five editions from 2022 to 2026, the rider who won this stage also won the race. Maxim Van Gils was the first. Crosswinds had cut the front of the race to 15 riders before the climb in 2022. Van Gils, 22 years old and without a professional win, dropped Andrea Bagioli on the steep part and reached the line 40 seconds ahead of the next rider. Ruben Guerreiro won a four-rider sprint there in 2023 and took the race by 8 seconds.
In 2024 the stage came on the last day. Simon Yates rode for Jayco AlUla, the team that carries the region’s name on its jersey, and reached the plateau in a group of four with Finn Fisher-Black, who was ahead of him in the standings. Yates won the sprint, and the 10 bonus seconds for the stage gave him the race by 3 seconds.
Tom Pidcock came to the 2025 race for his first days with the Q36.5 team. He won the second stage on the uphill finish at Bir Jaydah Mountain, attacking 500 meters from the line. “This race is won on seconds really,” he said afterward, as quoted by Cyclingnews. Two days later he rode away on the Harrat Uwayrid climb, held off a small chasing group across the plateau into a headwind and won by 12 seconds.
The last stage, a loop around the AlUla Camel Cup Track, was run in strong crosswinds. The Uno-X team split the peloton with about 30 kilometers to go, and Rainer Kepplinger and Alan Hatherly, second and third overall that morning, were left behind. Pidcock stayed in front, and his final margin of 1 minute 9 seconds over Fredrik Dversnes is the largest in the race’s history.
The same loop opened the 2026 race, ridden in the opposite direction, and the wind split the field again. Jonathan Milan won the sprint from the front group, while Jan Christen crashed twice and was left behind it.
Four days later, on the Harrat Uwayrid climb, Sergio Higuita attacked on the steepest part, and Christen passed the bonus sprint at the top 10 seconds behind the leaders. He caught them on the plateau, attacked alone a few kilometers from the line and won the stage by 11 seconds. Christen, 21, took the race by 15 seconds from Higuita, his first stage race win.
Tim Merlier won two stages in 2024 and two in 2025, and no rider has won more. Dylan Groenewegen and Milan have three each. Merlier’s second win of 2024 came on the rising road to Maraya, where he beat Bryan Coquard in a photo finish by the width of a wheel rim.
Also known as: Saudi Tour · Al Ula Tour
The race began in 2020 as the Saudi Tour, on roads around Riyadh, and Phil Bauhaus won it by 2 seconds. It was not held in 2021, moved to AlUla in 2022 and was renamed the AlUla Tour in 2024. Six editions through 2026 have had six different winners, and Tim Merlier holds the record for stage wins with four.
From 2022 to 2026 the winner of the stage to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid has also won the race every time. Simon Yates won a four-rider sprint there in 2024 and took the race by 3 seconds. Tom Pidcock crossed the plateau alone in 2025, and Jan Christen, who had crashed twice on the opening day, caught the leaders on it in 2026 and rode away from them a few kilometers from the line.
2027 edition
Jan 25–29, 2027. The AlUla Tour 2027 runs from January 25 to 29 at AlUla in Saudi Arabia. Jan Christen won the 2026 race on the last stage, attacking alone after the climb to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid, where race leader Yannis Voisard was dropped.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2026 | 🇨🇭Jan Christen |
| 2025 | 🇬🇧Thomas Pidcock |
| 2024 | 🇬🇧Simon Yates |
| 2023 | 🇵🇹Ruben Guerreiro |
| 2022 | 🇧🇪Maxim Van Gils |
| 2020 | 🇩🇪Phil Bauhaus |
Jan Christen crashed twice on the first stage, when the wind split the field. Four days later he won alone at the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid and took the race by 15 seconds from Sergio Higuita.
Tom Pidcock won at Bir Jaydah Mountain and at the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid in his first race for Q36.5. After a final stage split by crosswinds, his margin was 1 minute 9 seconds, the largest in the race's history.
The fourth edition was the first under the name AlUla Tour. Simon Yates won the final stage in a four-rider sprint and the race by 3 seconds.
After a year without a race, the Saudi Tour left Riyadh for AlUla and its route took in the climb to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid. Maxim Van Gils, 22, took his first professional win there and the race by 36 seconds.
The first edition was held on five stages around Riyadh. Phil Bauhaus, led out by Mark Cavendish, won the last sprint at Al Masmak and the race by 2 seconds over Nacer Bouhanni.
The rider who won the stage to this finish also won the race in every edition from 2022 to 2026. The climb is about 4 kilometers long and has a ramp of 22 percent.
About 8 kilometers of flat road lie between the top of the climb and the finish. Tom Pidcock held off a chasing group there into a headwind in 2025, and Jan Christen caught the leaders on it and rode away from them in 2026.
The loop around the camel racing track is open to the wind. On the final stage in 2025 a split there cost Rainer Kepplinger and Alan Hatherly their second and third places overall.
Simon Yates trailed Finn Fisher-Black in the standings on the road in 2024 until the 10 seconds for the stage win gave him the race by 3 seconds. Phil Bauhaus started the last stage in 2020 two seconds behind Nacer Bouhanni, beat him in the sprint and won the race by 2 seconds.
The stages start and finish at sites around the AlUla oasis, among them the Old Town, the tombs of Hegra, the old AlManshiyah railway station, the mirrored Maraya hall and the Camel Cup Track. The route changes from one edition to the next, but the finish at the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid was part of every edition from 2022 to 2026. Its climb is about 4 kilometers long, with one kilometer at an average of 17 percent and a ramp of 22 percent, and about 8 kilometers of flat plateau follow before the line. Bir Jaydah Mountain, a second uphill finish, was added in 2025. The loop around the Camel Cup Track is open to crosswinds, and the peloton split there on the final stage in 2025 and on the first in 2026.
The finish of the stage whose winner took the race in every edition from 2022 to 2026. The climb to it is about 4 kilometers long, with one kilometer at an average of 17 percent and a ramp of 22 percent, and about 8 kilometers of plateau follow.
An uphill finish first used in 2025, when the climb was 2.9 kilometers at an average of 9.2 percent and Tom Pidcock attacked 500 meters from the line. In 2026 the finish was approached from the opposite direction and Yannis Voisard won.
A camel racing venue with an exposed loop of road around it. Stages finished there in 2024, 2025 and 2026, each time after the wind had split the peloton.
Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, with more than 110 tombs cut into the rock. The route crossed it on a gravel road in 2022 and 2023, and a stage finished there in 2026.
A concert hall faced with mirrors in the Ashar Valley. The finish beside it rises at an average of 6 percent over the last 500 meters, and Tim Merlier won there in 2024 by the width of a wheel rim.
Won two stages and the 2025 race by 1 minute 9 seconds, the largest margin in the race's history. It was his first race for the Q36.5 team and his first stage race win as a professional.
His four stage wins, two in 2024 and two in 2025, are the most by any rider. He led the race going into the final stage in 2024.
Won the 2024 race by 3 seconds for Jayco AlUla, the team that carries the region's name, by taking a four-rider sprint at the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid.
The first winner, in 2020, with two stage wins and a margin of 2 seconds over Nacer Bouhanni.
