It is now definitive: the Dakar flees from Saudi Arabia and changes dates

BarcelonaIt is now definitive: The 2027 Dakar will take place. After many weeks of doubts, which had jeopardized the organization of the toughest rally on the planet, a solution has finally been reached. As ARA has learned, the event will change its venue and will be held between Europe and Africa, thus moving away from Saudi Arabia.

Although the Saudi country had a signed contract with ASO, the company that organizes the Dakar, the war conflict in the Middle East had raised many doubts about whether the event could be organized or not. Above all, for security reasons. For this reason, ASO has been working on a plan B that was confirmed this Monday, the day it was communicated to pilots and teams.

More than a decade later, the race will start again in Europe and finish in Africa. It will be a Dakar "as God intended", say sources familiar with this agreement. Although the route has not yet been presented to the public, ASO has detailed that the race will consist of 12 stages –one of which is a marathon stage–, in addition to a prologue stage and a rest day. In this way, it has been possible to maintain the original format, instead of cutting the competition short and doing it in half the days.

The big change is with the dates, as it will not start on January 1st, as was customary. Finally, the prologue stage will be on January 9th and it will end on the 22nd. Finally, the race will also be able to keep the name and be called Dakar, a fact that had been at risk due to the commercial commitments that were signed between ASO and Saudi Arabia. The teams and riders have celebrated this news, both for what it means in terms of competition and sponsors.

A blow to the prestige of the Saudis

Saudi Arabia has spent a decade investing many millions to improve its image by organizing sporting events like the Dakar. But in recent months, the Houthi rebels of Yemen, a state experiencing a civil war with Saudi participation, have expanded their operations to attack Saudi Arabia, a state that forms a military coalition with Turkey and Pakistan and currently carries out up to 300 daily airstrikes against rebel strongholds. The fact of seeing different ports and the capital's international airport bombed has been causing the suspension of many events. A few days ago, it was confirmed that the Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament in Riyadh would also not take place, following bomb attacks at Riyadh's international airport. The competition, featuring six stars like Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Alex de Minaur, and Taylor Fritz, has theoretically been postponed until December. Each of the six participants was guaranteed an appearance fee of 1.5 million dollars, and the winner would receive an additional 4.5 million – bringing the total to 6 million, the largest prize in tennis history. The cancellation in Riyadh has been beneficial for the ATP 500 tournament in Vienna, which will now feature six top-ten players, including Carlos Alcaraz.

Last week, an anti-drone alarm delayed a Saudi football league match where Cristiano Ronaldo was playing by two hours. At the end of the match, the Portuguese player kissed a Saudi flag to make clear his support and gratitude to the local government, the one that pays his salary. Having to allocate more funds to the war effort has changed the priorities of the Saudi authorities, who have also seen how LIV Golf, the professional circuit created by the Saudis in 2022 with more than 5 billion dollars from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), declared bankruptcy on September 8th. Some of the best golf players had signed with this circuit and now see that they are owed millions. The Basque player Jon Rahm wants to leave, as the promises made are not being kept. And some of the construction of new facilities, such as golf courses, is no longer being carried out. The war in Yemen and the conflict in the Gulf have caused Saudi Arabia to stop being a paradise for professional sports.