Sprinters breathe a sigh of relief: "The flat world championships in Abu Dhabi are coming"

The 2028 Road World Championships held in Abu Dhabi initially seemed tailor-made for sprinters, but the construction of artificial hills near the city raised some doubts. UCI director Peter Van den Abeele now puts an end to all uncertainty. "It's going to be a flat Worlds," he told Sporza.

"It will definitely be a sprinters' Worlds," Van den Abeele continued. "It was a request from president David Lappartient to make it a sprinters' festival. It’s been a while (since 2016, when Peter Sagan won) that there was a Worlds for sprinters."

The former cyclocross and mountain bike rider also revealed that an artificial climb is currently being constructed near Hudayriyat Island, but this is intended for cycling tourism in the area. The full Worlds route will be finalized by the end of the year.

"There might be a hill of about 100 meters on the route, but nothing more. It’s been too long since sprinters have stood on the podium wearing the rainbow jersey. The flat Worlds is coming, and the sprinters can rest easy."

Project

The Italian Tuttobici spoke earlier this week with Fabrizio D'Amico, the Italian race director of the UAE Tour. The stage race is organized by the Italian RCS, also responsible for the Giro d'Italia and other major Italian races. The conversation included the topic of the artificial hill.

"This project existed before the World Championships were awarded to Abu Dhabi. The idea is to offer riders training here a route with elevation so they don’t have to drive an hour and a half every time to find a climb. Who knows, the hill might come in handy for the Worlds, although it won’t be as tough as in Rwanda, Canada, or Haute-Savoie next year," emphasized D'Amico.