Fewer stars, but potentially more open racing – how will the absence of several big names affect the Rwanda World Championships?

Whenever any country or region puts on a bike race, they hope they’re going to attract some big names. The stars of the sport, those that even transcend cycling perhaps, have the ability to put an event on the map just by showing up, and can almost guarantee some exciting racing.

When the race you’re organising is the World Championships, you can have fairly high hopes that many of the world’s very best riders will be there, because one of the sport’s top accolades is up for grabs: the rainbow jersey.