Many of cycling’s top teams have decided not to take part in both the Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman in 2016. Many of the strongest classics teams, like Trek, Tinkoff-Saxo, Sky and Etixx-QuickStep are missing from Qatar and from that list, only Etixx will race in Oman.

“We are doing a little bit different calendar this year,” an Etixx spokesman told VeloNews. “For the riders that are going to the classics, some of them will race at Valencia. Sometimes you need to make changes in the calendar.”

It appears that with plenty of races in France in February, plus the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Volta ao Algarve, and the Ruta del Sol stage races in Spain and Portugal, Europe appears to be the destination for spring racing. This may be to do with the cost savings of not having to fly riders out to the Middle East and equipment too.

“It’s a little complicated,” Trek general manager Luca Guercilena said of his team’s decision not to race in Qatar and Oman next season. “We decided to create an alternative program in February. A lot of it hinged on Oman. We knew we weren’t going there with the sandstorm and traveling last year, so we could not split the team and just send one to Qatar. So we said ‘no’ when ASO asked us.”

“Qatar is a good leadup to the classics, yes, but we are required to send the same men to Oman as well. Or we have to pay for flights for men to leave and others to come in. [Team owner] Oleg Tinkov is already spending a lot of money,” Steven De Jongh, Tinkoff-Saxo sports director told VeloNews.

“With Qatar and then Oman, it just becomes a long trip. Oman didn’t bring what we wanted last year with the long days to and from the stages.”

“It’s a coincidence that Etixx is not racing as well. We just didn’t have enough men for a cross-winds team in Qatar. Then if we send one there, where it is a good classics preparation, they are required to race in Oman, and that’s not ideal,” Sky DS Servais Knaven said.

Only AG2R, Katusha, Giant-Alpecin, Astana, Lampre-Merida, LottoNL-Jumbo, Dimension Data and BMC will ride in Qatar, with just Etixx-QuickStep joining those teams in Oman.