Wærenskjold says he skipped AlUla Tour ‘because of human rights’
Søren Wærenskjold won stages at the Saudi Tour in 2023 and 2024, but he told TV2 that he asked Uno-X Mobility not to be sent to the rebranded AlUla Tour this year “for my own conscience.”
“There is evidence of people being captured and killed because of their political views,” the 24-year-old Norwegian said. “Gay rights, women’s rights… there are many issues.”
With that in mind, Wærenskjold said that he requested to be left out of his team’s plans to go to the ASO-organized AlUla Tour, and team boss Thor Hushovd granted that request, saying, “I have to respect that athletes have different desires and take a stand on such important issues.” [TV2]
Ritchey WCS components are losing the rainbows
For more than 30 years, Ritchey has used the World Champion Rainbow stripes on its WCS-level components.
As of January 1, 2025, that has come to an end. Expect Ritchey WCS components to transition to a grey graphic instead of the colorful logo. Iain Treloar has more on what actually happened here at Escape Collective.
XDS Astana is following the data in pursuit of all-important UCI points
In the final year of a relegation cycle that currently seems likely to bump his XDS Astana squad down to the second division, team boss Alexandre Vinokourov says that the Kazakhstani outfit has employed a data analyst to help put together a calendar maximizing chances to score UCI points.
“We’ve worked a lot on the question of the most beneficial courses for us thanks to a software program made by our data analyst which tells us to go to such and such a race depending on the depth of the field and the probability of getting more or less points,” Vinokourov told L’Equipe, also saying that the squad must “remain in the WorldTour to continue to survive.” [L’Equipe]
Price-Pejtersen awarded Danish TT title seven months after disqualification
Back in June of 2024, Johan Price-Pejtersen (then riding for Bahrain Victorious, now with Alpecin-Deceuninck) set the fastest mark in the time trial at the Danish national championships, but he was disqualified (and fined) for having briefly ridden on a path beside the road. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) was awarded the victory instead.
Several months after the fact, the Danish cycling federation has decided on appeal to reverse the disqualification, granting Price-Pejtersen the title. Price-Pejtersen told TV2 that he is seeking “compensation” from the federation for the way the situation was handled, noting that “I’ve been in a contract year, and the opportunities I haven’t had because of this are something that will never come back.” [TV2]
Winner’s Circle: Pidcock takes his first win for Q36.5, Wollaston gets her first win for FDJ-Suez
Tom Pidcock wasted little time getting his first win for Q36.5, climbing to victory on stage 2 of the AlUla Tour. It was an unconventional day of racing that saw a stretch of the route removed and racing temporarily neutralized due to issues with the road surface. Racing was restarted for the final 5 km, where riders approached and then tackled a finishing climb. Pidcock attacked inside the final kilometer and held on ahead of Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain Victorious) and Alan Hatherly (Jayco AlUla) to take the victory.
Over in Mallorca, Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) took the win at the Trofeo Calvià, the first race in the Challenge Mallorca series of one-days. The Swiss up-and-comer crossed the line six seconds ahead of Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) with António Morgado of UAE Team Emirates-XRG in third.
And in Australia, after missing out on sprint chances at the Tour Down Under and the Schwalbe One Day Classic, Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) put it all together at the inaugural Surf Coast Classic. She sprinted to victory in Torquay, ahead of Chloe Dygert and Georgia Baker to claim her first win for her new team.
