Belgium’s Tom Boonen has predicted that crosswinds could decimate the peloton in Sunday’s men’s World Championship road race in Qatar and leave riders with “nowhere to hide”.
Although the last 106km of the 257.5km race take place on a circuit in Doha, the first 150km will follow exposed desert roads to the north of the city.
Boonen, who has won a record 22 stages of the Tour of Qatar, believes the predicted bunch finish will materialise but does not anticipate that sprinters will have the luxury of large lead-out trains.
He said: "There will be a first and second and third and fourth and fifth and sixth group. Maybe the first and second groups will come back together, but the others, they won't come back.
"It might be just two or three from each team in each group, and I really don't see a bigger group than 60 riders going to the finish line.
"You don't need that much wind to make a big difference. More wind would be better, but it's very open here, almost like being on an island, so winds of 9kmh-12kmh is already a lot. If you have a little bit of wind, you can make a big difference. There is nowhere to hide.
"Everybody will have to make his efforts in the echelons [small groups formed when the peloton splits] coming back to Doha. Everybody, including the sprinters. There won't be sprinters or helpers or leaders anymore. By that point, it's just every man for himself."
As well as the wind, the peloton will also have to contend with temperatures potentially in excess of 40C.
Riders from races earlier in the World Championships have complained about the heat, while Great Britain's Luke Rowe posted a photo on Twitter on Friday of his cycle computer showing a temperature of 47.9C.
Boonen, who won the world road race in 2005 and is expected to co-lead Belgium's team on Sunday with Greg Van Avermaet, acknowledges the conditions are not ideal but is happy to race in them.
He added: "I've done maybe 100 races in temperatures like this in my career, and maybe 25 at temperatures higher like this. Sure, it's a problem, but it's always a problem.
"Nobody ever complains about this until they have a Worlds in Qatar. They have known it was going to be here for three years and the week before it starts, they realise it's hot."