World cycling championships to be held in Africa for the first time, Rwanda to be helped by Tour de France organisers

The International Cycling Federation (UCI) has a real surprise in store for cyclists, as it decided at its meeting that the 2025 World Road Championships will be held in Africa for the first time. And in Rwanda, a country of 14 million, a country that was plagued by civil war and genocide between 1990 and 1994, perpetrated by the two largest ethnic groups living in the Republic of Rwanda, the Hutus and the Tutsis.

The Republic of Rwanda is a rather atypical African country that has experienced a truly cruel history. It was a colony of Germany and Belgium, and when it declared independence in 1962, it faced not only economic but also ethnic problems, culminating in civil war and genocide.

UN peacekeepers led by Canadian troops had to intervene in the country. Even so, 800 000 civilians were killed in the country and two and a half million people had to flee Rwanda.

So it is somewhat symbolic that the best cyclists and cyclists from around the world will be visiting this presidential republic, which is the world’s one hundred and forty-fourth largest republic by area and the seventy-sixth largest country by population.

Rwanda’s capital city of Kigali will be the centre of the world road cycling championship and the African organisers will be assisted by ASO, the agency that organises the Tour de France.

Chris Froome, a British rider currently with the Israel – Premier Tech stable, who was born in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, thirty-eight years ago and grew up in South Africa, is particularly excited about the world championship being held in Africa for the first time.

Thanks to his parents and grandparents having British citizenship, he was also given a British passport. He won the Tour de France four times and the Vuelta twice. He is still racing and was so excited by the UCI’s decision that, although he wanted to retire from professional cycling this year, he will probably extend his career for another year.

“To finish my career on the African continent, where I started riding a small bike with balance wheels. What more could I ask for?” said Froome. The decision by world cycling’s leadership has a clear goal, to bring cycling to the African continent, to broaden the base of athletes and bring investment to countries shunned by big money.

Source: Cycling News