"The sprinters can sleep easy": UCI confirms the 2028 Abu Dhabi World Championships will be for the fast men

After years of brutal, climbing-heavy routes, the fastest men in the professional peloton finally have a World Championship to circle on their calendars. Despite recent rumors of a massive artificial hill being built in the United Arab Emirates, the UCI has officially confirmed that the 2028 battle for the rainbow jersey in Abu Dhabi is custom-made for the pure sprinters.

When Abu Dhabi was selected to host the 2028 event, most fans and riders expected a flat, wind-swept race similar to the 2016 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, won by Peter Sagan. However, panic recently spread among the fast men when news broke that an artificial hill was under construction on Hudayriyat Island.

The anxiety amongst the sprinters might be understandable, as the current trend for the World Championships heavily favors the climbers. The 2025 race in Kigali featured over 4,000 meters of elevation gain, and the upcoming editions in Montreal and Haute Savoie all promise similarly demanding mountain profiles. Against that backdrop, even a modest ascent in Abu Dhabi was enough to spark concern.

Speaking during the recent UAE Tour, UCI director of sports Peter Van den Abeele firmly ended the debate and reassured the sprinters that their chance is still coming.

"It will certainly be a sprinters’ World Championships," Van den Abeele told Sporza. "It was the request of president David Lappartient to make it a festival for sprinters. It has been quite some time since we had a Worlds designed specifically for them."

The UCI director acknowledged the ongoing construction project in the United Arab Emirates, but he clarified that it is not meant to ruin the race profile. The hill is part of the region's broader plan to develop local cycling infrastructure, and the project predates the World Championships entirely.

To put the sprinters' minds at ease, Van den Abeele confirmed that the obstacle will be insignificant. "There might be a hill of around 100 metres on the course, but nothing more," he explained. "It has been too long since sprinters stood on the podium in the rainbow jersey. The flat Worlds is coming, and the sprinters can sleep easy."

The official and definitive route for the 2028 World Championships is still unknown, but it is expected to be presented later this year.