We could have all hazarded a guess, but now it has been confirmed that the 2028 Abu Dhabi World Championship will be one for the sprinters.
The construction of an artificial cycling climb at Al Wathba had thrown some off the scent, including Belgian fastman Tim Merlier, who expressed concern that the current generation of sprinters would never get their chance at a rainbow jersey.
Merlier had said: “Every generation of sprinters should get at least one real chance at a world title. I fear that chance will never come for me.” And he expressed concern too about the artificial climb which he said could be seen growing bigger every year at the UAE Tour.
Go back 15 years ago or more and flat, sprinters’ courses are much more popular. Mark Cavendish took GB’s first Worlds win since Tom Simpson in 1965 in Copenhagen, and Giorgia Bronzini won the women’s race, also in a bunch sprint. Then there was 2002 on the Zolder motor racing circuit, won by Mario Cipollini, and Spaniard Oscar Freire’s sprint victory in Lisbon the year before that – though neither of these events ended in a bunch sprint for the women.
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