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A Bahraini prince accused of torture is trying to start a WorldTour cycling team

Cycling is attracting a backer with a dark past with Giro champion Nibali set to ride for the team in 2017

A Bahraini backed cycling team was confirmed to be in the works at the beginning of 2016. As the professional peloton took its annual tour of the Persian Gulf with stops at the Dubai Tour, the Tour of Qatar and the Tour of Oman in February, a Bahraini prince announced that he wanted to form a WorldTour team. The man behind the newly announced project was Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the eldest son of the King of Bahrain and the head of the Bahrain Olympic Committee. The team was originally linked to Bjarne Riis and sought to reach the WorldTour level for 2017. The existence of the team was confirmed by Sheikh Nasser on Instagram where is seen doning branded attire with the words, “Bahrain Cycling Team will inspire, race hard, and look elegant.”

Vincenzo Nibali, who is fresh off victory at the Giro d’Italia and has wins in all three grand tours, has been linked to the project. Officials from the Italian WorldTour team Lampre-Merida confirmed to Cyclingnews that they were also in talks with the Bahrainis regarding a takeover. Nibali, with his Giro victory resulting for a big comeback in the races final two mountain stages, has solidified his role as future leader of the Bahraini team being formed.

However, the past of the Bahraini prince is shady and Deadspin have argued the money he would bring to cycling is tainted. After the 2011 pro-democracy protests rocked the country, several individuals came out and accused Sheikh Nasser of a variety of human rights abuses. According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights he was personally involved in the torture of prisoners, including the elderly and foreign citizens. Sheikh Nasser is not the only member of the Bahraini royal family who has been identified by victims as the perpetrators of torture and severe beatings during the pro-democracy crackdown.

He was briefly prosecuted by a British court and lost his diplomatic immunity, but years on it doesn’t appear he will face further prosecution. Bahrain’s human rights abuses extend beyond Sheikh Nasser’s actions but the princes team is set to be unveiled at the 2016 Tour de France with Nibali as team leader according to Cycling Weekly.

Cycling teams are almost completely sponsor backed so economic trends often affect the sport more severely. Though the brand exposure lures some companies to make investments in the sport, others get their backing from wealthy individuals who have entered the sport as a hobby project that serveres a secondary role of promoting the brand. Tinkoff and IAM Cycling are good examples of this. Other teams are state sponsored projects with Katusha’s receiving funding from the Russian Global Cycling Project and Astana are backed by the Samruk-Kazyna, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan. The lack of return on investments are behind both IAM owner Michel Thétaz and Tinkoff backer Oleg Tinkov announcing they will be leaving the sport at the end of 2016.

The Bahraini team is set to replace one of those teams in the WorldTour if it does in fact get announced this year. Riders can only confirm who they will be riding for in 2017 when the UCI transfer window opens on August 1 but with riders seemingly helping Nibali during the Giro’s final mountain stages, the recruitment campaign seems to be well underway.