The 2023 Saudi Tour competition returns to a start filled with last year’s racing history as competition intensifies between Dutch cyclist Dylan Grünewegen, who took first place in the ‘individual stage’ for the 2022 Saudi Tour, and German Pascal Ackermann, who competed in the Emirates Tour 2020, winning the first leg, along with big names including German John Degenkopp and Dutch Cess Paul, Colombian Santiago Buitrago, winning Bahrain team player, is back in the Saudi Tour 2023 as he plans big things this time, especially after he achieved an achievement in the Saudi Tour 2022 represented by winning the title of the second leg of the race.
The Saudi Tour has become a true star factory in cycling as German Phil Bauhaus, 2020 champion, and Belgian Maxime Van Giles, 2022 champion, have become famous and celebrated names in the game.
Returning to Colombian Santiago Buitrago, he was overwhelmed with great ambition during his participation in the Saudi Tour last year that led him to the second stage title in Abu Rakah, and his history is full of many stage victories, as he achieved during the Tour of Italy victory on the 17th stage and also he won the first stage of the Tour of Burgos, Spain, which means that this year he is going to achieve the big goal that the Bahrain-Victorious team pushed him to score again, and he will undoubtedly , is the first candidate for the start of the first stage, which starts at Al-Ula International Airport on January 30.
Speaking of the ambitions of the Gulf countries, their teams are working to prove themselves in racing competitions and achieve new successes, and this is shown by naming Bahrain the Victorious Team for fast and technical riders, including Jonathan Milan, Andrea Pasqualon, Dozan Rajovic and Heinrich Hossler.
The UAE team is also betting heavily on German Pascal Ackermann’s ability and is aiming to finish the race with him and score points overall with Italian David Formularo backed by new German driver Felix Groschatner.
As for the host country team, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the cooperation between the Saudi Cycling Federation and the Movie Star team will have a positive impact on the participation of the Saudi Arabian team in the competition.
The Australians have chosen a new name for their team, Jaiko Al-Ula, in partnership with Dutchman Dylan Gruenewegen, who won two stages of the Tour of Saudi Arabia last year.
In this regard, and since this Tour is part of the Tour of Asia, the purpose of the championship is to provide the highest level for the best teams on the continent, namely Team Terengganu Polygon from Malaysia and Team Yukio from Japan.
And in the Saudi Tour 2023 race, which will be held from January 30 to February 3, 16 teams participate: Team Kazakhstan – Astana Kazakhstan (Ciss Paul) Bahrain – Bahrain Victorios (Santiago Buitrago, Andrea Pasqualone) France – Cofidis (Rubin Fernandez, Simon Consoni) (Ruben Guerrero, Gregor Molerger,) Spain – Team Moviestar Australia Team Gecko AlUla (Dylan Groenewegen, Felix Engelhardt) (John Degenkolb, Casper van Oden) Netherlands Team DSM UAE Team UAE (David Formolo, Pascal Ackermann) (Matteo Malucelli) Belgium Bingol WB Spain Escal Tel Escadel Escade (Zabier Mikael Aspirin), United States Human Buried Health (Jays van Hochku Baer Andre Cotte) Norway UNO X (Soren Wernskjöld, Erlind Blekra) (Alessandro Fedelli, Jack Bauer) Q. 36.5 Switzerland Italy Koratek (Etienne van Embel, Karel Vasek) Malaysia Terengganu Polygon (Yusuf Regig, Gamblejametz Sinepar) Japan Team Yukio (Raymond Kreider, Benjamin Brades) Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia.
Heiko Al Oula cycling team sporting director Matt White said one of the big incentives to win the Saudi Tour 2023 title is that the host of the tournament is the one who sponsors the team.
Noting that they have several options with the team’s young players, including U23 European Road Champion Felix Englehart, mountain biker Alexander Palmer, and U23 World Time Trial Champion Søren Wernskjöld (Uno-X) who bolstered the ranks team, considering each stage important for themselves to win the championship.
