UAE Team Emirates-XRG announces ambitious young squad for the AlUla Tour

Ready to contest the first race in Asia of the 2026 season, UAE Team Emirates-XRG can confirm its seven-rider lineup for the five-day AlUla Tour.

Beginning on Tuesday, 27 January, the 2026 AlUla Tour will see the peloton race through scenic desert landscapes and historic landmarks, with the stage race concluding on Saturday, 31 January.

Led by talented young riders Igor Arrieta and Jan Christen, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will look to race on the front foot in Saudi Arabia, with two uphill finishes likely to define the general classification. As such, both Domen Novak and Kevin Vermaerke will play an integral part for the Emirati squad, with Julius Johansen ready to put in the hard yards on the flat.

Christen: “I’m excited to make my season debut at AlUla Tour. Overall it’s been a good winter for me with solid training blocks and now we’re ready to start. The whole squad is super motivated to get going.

“I hope to have my chances here in AlUla, especially with some of the longer hard climbs. We have a strong team which is always a bonus.”

Rounding out the team will be a pair of young upstarts from the UAE Team Emirates Gen Z squad, Daan Dijkman and Davide Stella, both of whom will hope to take valuable experience away from Saudi Arabia. Directing the seven-rider lineup from the team car will be Sports Directors Manuele Mori and Jan Polanc.

For all seven riders, the 2026 edition will bring a race debut in AlUla, but for Vermaerke, the race will come with extra importance. Having made the move to UAE Team Emirates-XRG over the winter, the five-day stage race will mark his first outing for the Emirati squad.

Still only 25 years of age, Vermaerke has his eyes set on moving up a gear in 2026, and the AlUla Tour will provide a first opportunity to impress for the American.

Despite not having won the race to date, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has enjoyed some real highlights in the AlUla Tour’s short history. Through Rui Costa, Davide Formolo and Finn Fisher-Black, the team has finished on the final podium in four of the five editions to date. In fact, the Portuguese Costa won the very first stage of this race back in 2020.

Formerly known as the Saudi Tour, the race was renamed to the AlUla Tour ahead of last year’s edition, and the area’s unique natural landscapes will play host to five stages once more this time out.

Beginning at the AlUla Camel Cup Track on Tuesday, 27 January, stage 1 of the 2026 AlUla Tour looks all but certain to end in a bunch sprint, where the peloton’s fast men will hope to lay down a marker. Equally, stage 2, to and from AlManshiyah Train Station, looks well suited to a bunch sprint at the end of its 153.2km-long route.

For those with eyes on a general classification bid, stage 3 will be the first real test, with a first uphill finish on the menu from Winter Park to Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah. The last 5km of this stage stretch out an average gradient of 6.1%, and the climb itself is very consistent throughout.

Another sprint is to be expected on a flat parcours between Winter Park and Shalal Siljyat Rocks on stage 4, before the race comes to a close on Saturday, 31 January.

Raced from AlUla Old Town to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid, stage 5 will decide the final winner of this year’s AlUla Tour and see the race return to a finish that is quickly becoming synonymous with the event.

Providing Saudi Arabia’s answer to some of the super steep finishes that are seen in Europe, the climb to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid stands at 12% for 2.9km, with the toughest slopes pitching up above 20%.

Once the riders have crested this peak, an 8km-long plateau will take them to the finish line, where the 2026 edition will draw to an end.