270 million from Saudi Arabia will boost the Cycling Super League

Details continue to emerge about the Cycling Super League, which the group of teams promoting it hope to achieve a better distribution of the profits generated by cycling, currently almost exclusively in the hands of major race organizers such as ASO, RCS or Flanders Classics.

SRJ Sports Investments would be the main investor in the Cycling Super League

SRJ Sports Investments, a company belonging to the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia seems to be confirmed as the main investor in the Cycling Super League that various World Tour teams continue to promote in a quest for a total transformation of the paradigm of this sport.

We remind you that the project of One Cycling, the name by which the Cycling Super League would be known, was born with the intention on the part of the promoting teams to take control of the competition against a current situation in which the profits generated end up almost exclusively in the hands of the major organizers. On the other hand, in an increasingly expensive sport, teams continue to depend exclusively on what their sponsors contribute.

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The commitment of SRJ Sports Investments would be part of a process of diversification of investment by Saudi Arabia which in recent years has been promoting other types of income beyond those generated by oil. Among these investments would be others such as the sponsorship by Al-Ula, a World Heritage Arab city, whose name is worn by Jayco-AlUla and this year the first edition of the AlUla Tour, a 2.1 category race that replaces the Saudi Tour. In addition, SRJ Sports Investments has interests in other sports such as football, golf or motor racing.

Although negotiations for the establishment of the Cycling Super League continue, it is striking that only 8 teams have joined the project, among them, Visma-Lease a Bike, the main promoter of the Super League or EF Education-EasyPost, Lidl-Trek, INEOS Grenadiers, Bora-Hansgrohe or Soudal-QuickStep.

As expected, both ASO and RCS, organizers of the Tour and Giro d'Italia as well as other races have stayed out of the negotiations of the Cycling Super League project. However, rumors suggest that Flanders Classic, the company that organizes the main Belgian classics, seems to be receptive to the Cycling Super League project and to reach some kind of agreement with the teams for the distribution of profits.

For its part, the UCI maintains a low profile in this regard waiting to see how the negotiations turn out although, in principle, its president David Lappartient would have shown openness to some kind of reform in the organization of cycling.