Abu Dhabi will host the 2028 of the UCI Road World Championships, which is held annually in different countries (in 2025 it was in Rwanda, in 2026 will be in Canada, in 2027 in France and in 2029 in Denmark). The problem is that United Arab Emirates is mostly flat, so the country is said to be building a series of hills, and even an artificial mountain measuring 4 km with sand.
Construction of artificial sandy mountains, dunes and a series of hills big and small, to make for a more interesting orography, started years ago, with the largest of them all, Al Wathba, expected to stand 4 km tall and offering slopes of 11% and 13%, as was known last month from a series of reports that ignited a controversy: is Abu Dhabi favouring Tadej Pogacar?
Tim Merlier, Belgian sprinter from Soudal-Quick Step, complained that the artificial mountains would benefit climbers like Pogacar (who rides for UAE Team Emirates-XRG) instead of sprinters. They point out that they are giving him an unfair advantage and are ignoring UCI, World Cycling Union, who specifically asked for a flat stage.
It is still too early to know what kind of stages the cycling Road World Championships 2028 will feature, but cyclists are starting complaining to prevent what they perceive as an unfair advantage to Pogacar, who rides for the Emirates team. What do you think?
