In a recent post on social media Prince Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa restated his plans for a new Bahrain Cycling Team. "Bahrain Cycling Team will inspire, race hard, and look elegant," it stated.

Reportedly, the team is trying to secure a WorldTour licence and has its eyes set on newly crowned Giro d'Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali. Nibali presently rides for Astana but has for quite some time been linked to the new Bahrain program as a possible signing for 2017.

The prince also made an official statement about the project in a report on Bahrain News Agency, emphasizing the importance of his new team and its potential influence on the growth of cycling in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

"The Kingdom of Bahrain Cycling Team will soon make its debut on the international scene, and we hope to begin achieving positive results as this will be a morale-boosting for the team and will help the team to gain more experience for the coming competitions."

For the past three months, Nibali has been linked to the team and, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, he was keen to move his group of riders and staff to a new team for 2017. At that time, the prince of Bahrain was ready to take on Astana, Trek-Segafredo and Lampre-Merida to try to secure Nibali's signature on a contract.

Following Nibali’s fresh triumph at the Giro d'Italia, where he won stage 19 to Risoul and then clinched the maglia rosa during stage 20 in Sant'Anna di Vinadio, Astana director Alexandre Vinokourov implied that Nibali's overall win could play a part in convincing the Italian to turn down an offer from the new Bahrain Cycling Team and renew his ties with Astana for 2017 and beyond.