One Cycling Project DEAD: Saudi Arabia's €250M Cycling Revolution REJECTED by UCI (2026)

A July letter from the UCI - disclosed here for the first time - killed the ambitious project, but chief proponent Richard Plugge still sees a path forward for overall reform.

Cor Vos

Richard Plugge, the Visma-Lease a Bike manager and architect of the proposed One Cycling reforms, has conceded that the Saudi Arabia-funded enterprise will not go ahead as hoped.

In an exclusive interview with Escape Collective, Plugge recognized a reality that has been clear for some time: the project hit a roadblock in the UCI and its current president, David Lappartient. "Change is something that scares people away," he said. But Plugge remained committed to finding some other path forward to shake pro cycling from its status quo.

In July of this year, Lappartient and the UCI sent a letter – reported on here for the first time –addressed to UCI WorldTeams, UCI Women’s WorldTeams, UCI WorldTour organisers, and UCI Women’s WorldTour organisers that stated explicitly that the One Cycling project contravened UCI regulations and included threats to remove UCI licences from any entity that stayed involved in the project. (That letter, in its entirety, is downloadable as a PDF below).

UCI releases 2026 WorldTour calendars, decisively rejecting One CyclingA unanimous vote puts cycling’s ambitious reform project firmly on the outside looking in, with no quick prospects to overhaul the sport.Escape CollectiveJoe Lindsey

After four years of talks and a reported 21 men’s and women’s teams apparently committed to an economic and sporting evolution, the International Cycling Union (UCI) gave a damning verdict of the project in the summer, rejecting it as “incompatible with the governance and regulatory framework of the UCI as well as lacking sporting coherence.” It also refused to incorporate three One Cycling events into the next WorldTour calendar cycle; Escape Collective has been told by various sources with direct knowledge of the request that the proposed stage races were slated to take place in the United States, Colombia and Saudi Arabia.

The governing body’s president, Lappartient, then said in an interview with AFP that, despite the counter-claims of One Cycling’s figureheads, there was a "belligerent intention to create a two-tier system.” Subsequent reports, including from Escape Collective, that One Cycling were undeterred and were determined to press on, riled Lappartient further, prompting him to send a strongly-worded letter (linked below) to all men’s and women’s WorldTour teams and organisers.

Did we do a good job with this story?

One Cycling Richard Plugge UCI David Lappartient