The course

The women’s race covers 134.5km in all, rolling out from the Qatar foundation on flat roads before heading to the circuit on the artificial Pearl-Qatar island.

Covering 28.1km, the first part of the course is largely flat, straight and wide open before they arrive at the circuit which will also be used by the men the following day.

The women will ride seven laps of the 15.2km circuit, where wind is like to be less of a factor than in the first part of the race.

With no climbs in Qatar, the race is expected to come down to a bunch sprint, finishing at close to 4.20pm local time – though there are suggestions the race could be shortened due to the stifling heat.

The contenders

Lizzie Deignan (Great Britain)

Great Britain’s defending champion Lizzie Deignan boasts a fast enough finish to win in Doha, and has enjoyed success in Qatar before.

Rewind to the start of the season, and Lizzie Armitstead was in supreme form, winning the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche, Trofeo Alfredo Binda and Tour of Flanders.

She followed that up with victory in the Boles Rental Hills Classic, and then won a stage and the yellow jersey at the Aviva Women’s Tour.

After it was revealed she had escaped a doping ban for three ‘whereabouts failures’, however, the momentum of her season was halted.

Nevertheless, now married and back on top of the podium when Boels-Dolmans won the team time trial to kick-start the World Championships, Deignan is very much a rider to watch.

She will not be favourite in a bunch sprint, but her victories earlier in the season showed she is canny enough, and definitely strong enough, to attack earlier if needs be too.

Deignan’s also enjoyed success in Qatar before – the 27-year-old won two stages and the overall title at the 2015 Ladies Tour of Qatar.

Chloe Hosking (Australia)

With seven victories to her name in 2016, this season has been 26-year-old Australian Chloe Hosking’s best to date.

No Australian has ever claimed the women’s road world title, but Hosking has announced herself as a contender with a series of impressive results – not least victory in July’s La Course by Le Tour de France in Paris.

Hosking has enjoyed success in Qatar before too, with Ladies Tour of Qatar stage wins in 2013 and again this year; the Australian was also second overall behind Armitstead in 2015.

Second place behind Wiggle-High5 team-mate Jolien d’Hoore at the Madrid Challenge continued her success in the Women’s WorldTour criterium races last month, and Hosking also won her most recent race, namely the Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli.

Katrin Garfoot claimed bronze in the women’s time trial to kick-start Australia’s medal haul for the 2016 UCI Road World Championships, and was also a Ladies Tour of Qatar winner earlier this year.

But Hosking is very much a woman on form, and has proved her sprinting credentials in Paris and Madrid already this season.

Jolien d’Hoore (Belgium)

Jolien d’Hoore is another Wiggle-High5 rider in good form, having won the Madrid Challenge in her last outing.

Better known for success in the Classics and the BeNe Ladies Tour – which she won again, courtesy of three stage wins, in July – d’Hoore has won seven times in all this season.

A couple of top-ten finishes overall in Qatar show she can handle the Qatar crosswinds too, but it was her victory in Madrid which marked her as a contender for the world title.

Fresh from winning omnium bronze on the track at Rio 2016, d’Hoore showed she’s wasted little time finding form on the road again.

Though not known as a sprinter, the Belgian has proved she can win from the bunch and should not be discounted.

Giorgia Bronzini (Italy)

The last time the UCI Road World Championships were held on a sprinters’ course, in Copenhagen in 2011, Giorgia Bronzini claimed her second consecutive world title.

The 33-year-old has not topped the podium at the Worlds since, but the Italian did bag two stage wins at the Giro d’Italia Femminile earlier in the year.

llist Elisa Longo Borghini another who could light the race up, and several other sprinting options.

Bronzini will also either support, or count on the support of, the likes of Marta Bastianelli – third in Madrid one month ago.