Place Name: Al Ula
Address: Al Ula, Medina, Saudi Arabia
Details: January 27, 2026
There is a strong list of sprinters who have made their way to Saudi Arabia to compete in the AlUla Tour and they don't have to wait long for their first opportunity. Stage 1 starts and finishes at the AlUla Camel Cup Track. The expected sprint finish will come after 158KM of racing that includes two intermediate sprint points. The first arrives after almost 70KM of racing and the second comes as the riders cross the finish line for the first of two finishing circuits with 17KM remaining. There is a sprint for bonus seconds on the second passage of the line just 9KM from the finish. The finish line is on a small rise going the opposite direction of last year when we saw Matteo Moschetti of Q36.5 win in one of the fastest sprint finishes of all time, reaching speeds of 85KM/HR. If the wind is in the same direction, we'll have an incredibly slow grind up to the line which will reward patience and good timing.
A group of four got away early on but they never caused the peloton any trouble. The pace was actually quite slow through the first few hours and the riders were behind the slowest expected pace for the day. With 82KM to go, only Muhammad Nur Aiman Bin Rosli of Terenggannu Cycling and Ali Al Shaikhahmed of the Saudi National Team were left in front while Said Alrahbi and Mohammed Al-Wahibi of the Omani National Team dropped back to the peloton. Neither Rosli or Shaikhahmed looked particularly interested in pushing ahead on the wide straight desert roads. The gap was 90 seconds but the peloton could just see their prey ahead up the road even through the faint haze.
With 71KM to go, Rosli dropped off the wheel leaving Shaikhahmed alone at the front but the gap was down to just 30 seconds. The catch was made 6KM later after an increase in pace in the peloton due to a change in direction. As they swung right, the little bit of wind pushed the riders into the left gutter but there was a high curb on the side of the road. A few riders got pushed too far over and three came down. The crash woke everyone up and a number of teams went forward which temporarily increased the speed.
After a few kilometers, the wind changed and the bunch were pushing into a strong headwind which made things very easy in the wheels. With 44KM to go, a few riders came together in the middle of the peloton and at least five went down. The biggest name was Jan Christen of UAE-XRG who is an overall favorite for the race. It took a minute but Christen got back on his bike and looked relatively unhurt. The road started to veer out of the headwind and into a crosswind. Picnic-PostNL and Lidl-Trek took the opportunity to drill it. Soudal Quickstep and Cofidis got involved and the race split up. In almost no time, at least five groups had formed across the road and Christen was losing significant time.
The front group was between 15 and 20 riders including four from Cofidis, one being Milan Fretin, but also some of the sprint favorites like Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek, Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious, and Matteo Moschetti of Pinarello Q36.5, Fabio Jakobsen of Picnic-PostNL, and Fernando Gaviria of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA. The gap was out to 30 seconds with 31KM to go but behind, groups had consolidated and formed a main chasing peloton. Even with the added man power in the chase, the gap remained around 30 seconds as the front group hit the finish line for the first time at 17KM to go.
Bad luck struck UAE-XRG and Christen once again as the Swiss rider got pushed into the sand and this time hit the deck harder. He got up and on his bike covered in road rash but was over 1 minute behind the peloton. With Christen's crash, UAE-XRG stopped pulling and by the time the lead group hit the line for one lap and 8.5KM to go, the gap had grown to 36 seconds. The front group lost a bit of cohesion with the finish looming and with 3.5KM to go, the race nearly together. Christen and his UAE-XRG teammates had rescued the day and made contact the with peloton and the chase were now just 10 seconds from catching the leaders.
The gap remained at 10 seconds through 1KM to go and Cofidis took charge but the speed wasn't high enough. Timo de Jong of Picnic-PostNL took a flyer with 800M to go from the front group. The full lead out started with Lidl-Trek and Cofidis which was enough to catch de Jong back at 250M from the line. Jonathan Milan came out of the Cofidis lead out train just 200M from the line with Milan Fretin glued on his wheel. Once Milan got fresh air, he was able to fully open up his sprint on the dragging uphill finish. The Italian hit the line for his first win on his first day back to racing in 2026. Fretin came home with second on the day with Moschetti sprinting for third.
There was an 11 second gap back to the peloton but that won't be too much worry since the front group did not contain any real contender for the overall. Jan Christen did receive a 20 second penalty however for holding on to his car after the second crash which is a lot to overcome over the two GC days ahead.
Tags: AlUla Tour, 2026, AlUla Tour 2026, Stage 1, January, AlUla Camel Cup Track, Muhammad Nur Aiman Bin Rosli, Ali Al Shaikhahmed, Said Alrahbi, Mohammed Al-Wahibi, Milan Fretin, Jonathan Milan, Matteo Moschetti, Timo de Jong