Abu Dhabi to host 2028 Cycling Road World Championships and 2029 Track Championships

Abu Dhabi will host the 2028 Cycling Road World Championships and the 2029 Track World Championships, the International Cycling Union has announced.

The 2028 event in the United Arab Emirates capital will be the second staging of the Road World Championships to take place in the Middle East after the 2016 edition in the Qatar capital of Doha.

Eight countries in four continents have been awarded hosting rights for 14 events through to 2029, the UCI said following its 192nd Congress in Glasgow, which is currently hosting the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships involving 13 different disciplines.

"Cycling is now experiencing unprecedented growth in all areas, from competition to cycling for all, including areas such as integrity and sustainable development," said the UCI President David Lappartient, after a Congress involving a record 151 member National Federations.

The 2024 Cycling Road World Championships will take place in Zurich, Switzerland.

In 2025, the road event will be held in Africa for the first time, with Rwanda as the venue, while Montreal is due to host the 2026 edition.

In 2027 the UCI will host the next edition of the multi-disciplinary World Championships currently making its debut in Glasgow, with competition due to be held in the French region of Haute-Savoie.

The number of UCI member federations rose by one to 203 with the inclusion at the Congress of American Samoa.

The Congress approved the 2022 UCI Annual Report, which includes the consolidated financial statements of the UCI and the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC), the International Federation’s training and education centre.

The reserves of the two entities at the end of 2022 amounted to more than CHF53 million (£47.5 million/$60.5 million/€55 million).

"In line with the financial plan for a non-Olympic year, the annual result shows a loss, which will result in an expected decrease in reserves," the UCI said in a statement.

"The Congress also approved the UCI's 2024 budget, as well as an updated forecast for 2023.

"The UCI's projected reserves for the Olympic cycle were also presented to the Congress.

"They show a still solid financial situation for the end of the cycle, with an expected surplus and, as a result, an increase in the funds available for the development of cycling around the world."

The Congress also approved the new composition of the UCI Ethics Commission.

It will be composed of the following persons, elected for a four-year term - President Marc Cavaliero of Switzerland/Italy and four members - Jean-Christophe Breillat of France, Vered Deshe of Israel, Richard Leggat of New Zealand and Lauren Page of Canada.

The Congress awarded the UCI Merit, a distinction which rewards people who have made an outstanding contribution to cycling, to four individuals.

The first is Sir Chris Hoy, Britain’s 11-times world champion and six-times Olympic gold medallist in track cycling, who is currently serving as ambassador for the World Championships in Glasgow.

Awards have also gone to Switzerland’s Rocco Cattaneo, a member of the UCI Management Committee and former European Cycling President, Yao Jean-Marie Allah Kouamé, President of the Ivory Coast Cycling Federation, the man behind the renewed Tour de Côte d'Ivoire - Tour de la Réconciliation, and Sonia Gregoria Ramos Acuña, member of the UCI Management Committee and President of the Bolivian Cycling Federation.

A collective UCI Merit was also awarded to Afghan women cyclists who were evacuated from Afghanistan two years ago by the UCI and its partners following the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban in order to give them the opportunity to live a better life and continue their sport in safety.

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Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian.