Twenty-six years old, from Negrar in the Verona registry and a local cyclist, a climber. One seventy-five tall, fifty-seven kilos, size 42 shoes, and 40 resting heart rate. Alessio Gasparini is the first Italian rider signed by a Rwandan team. And from tomorrow, wearing an orange jersey, number 113, he will race the Tour of Rwanda, eight stages, 840 km with elevation changes that would stress an electrocardiogram.

The second of three children, Gasparini is not a cyclist by vocation but by choice: "We all started with swimming. I trained in the same pool as Max Rosolino and Federica Pellegrini. But back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, I got bored. At 16, I tried cycling: different landscapes, different adventures, different emotions, in short, a completely different tune. I had finally found my sport". The first year coincided with his last year as a junior, then moving through junior and Under 23 categories: "Until in 2021, with Pregnana of Alberto Saronni - breakaways, mountain points, some small results - I swore to myself that I would try to make cycling my life. Not to get rich, but to get rich in experiences. To travel the world, meet riders, discover peoples, that's what I wanted". A thirst for knowledge, a hunger for novelty, a desire for thrills: "In 2022 with the Spanish Jawa Kiwi Atlantico with a Venezuelan license, in 2023 with the Spanish Retelec from Galicia, in 2024 with the Moroccan Sidi Ali, this year with the Rwandan May Stars. Racing in Taiwan and Tibet, in the Sahara and the UK, in Spain and France, this year's calendar also includes Slovenia, Tour of Morocco, and Japan Tour. The best? The Tour of Portugal". Zero victories, many pursued, some dreamed of, one nearly achieved: "At the Tour of Taiwan. Three in a breakaway, at the foot of a climb I attack and take two with me, me in front and them on my wheel, when we're about to catch them, almost at the finish, I - exhausted - let go".

For almost two months, Alessio has been a guest at the Africa Rising Cycling Center, created in 2014 in Ruhengeri, 1850 meters above sea level, very close to the gorilla national park: "Ideal for training. There are no roundabouts, no traffic lights, no flat terrain, you either climb or descend, up and down from 1500 to 3000 meters, and with a mountain bike you can reach up to 4000 meters. If Kigali, the capital, is almost a Western metropolis, the rest of the country is still untouched. Forests, lakes, villages. Here you must be very careful of children, who run and jump everywhere. And you must be careful of cyclists too, bikes that seem to have been through a war, transporting 100 kg sacks of potatoes, braking with sandals reinforced with tire treads". Here he feels like a citizen of the world: "The sports director is an Eritrean, Aklilu Haile, the coach is Rwandan, Gasore Hategeka. Four teammates are Rwandan, one of them was selected because he was a bicycle taxi driver and no one was as fast as him carrying people or goods, the others form a kind of UN: a Spaniard, a Pole, a Greek, an Israeli, a Cameroonian... We speak English among ourselves. And along the way, I've learned to speak Spanish and Portuguese too". The ARCC has unexpected privileges: "The vegetable garden. Because the climate is also ideal: the sun, the heat, then every afternoon a rain shower. Everything we eat is freshly picked that day".

Gasparini lives on continuous surprises: "In the ARCC workshop, I found Italian bikes. Not Colnago and Pinarello, but Olivieri and Chesini. How strange, I thought, Veronese artisans all the way here. Then a Grandis, the bike I started racing on, from another Veronese artisan. Then I learned that a Veronese, Carlo Scandola, had sent them here as a volunteer, as a passionate person, as a missionary, in containers". And further: "Gasore has organized a cycling school. A track among the huts, very simple. And children pedaling on bikes much larger than themselves". The first two races of the year were also surprising: "The first was the Kigali circuit, 130 km, 2000 meters of elevation, with part of the route scheduled for the World Championships in September. A crazy race, elite, women, juniors, each category with its distance, but all together. So much so that when I attacked on the climb, the organizers stopped me because the juniors were finishing. At that point, in the confusion, I preferred to stay at the front, but in the group". Sixteenth. "The second, a criterium also in Kigali, 50 minutes then the last three laps around the Amahoro Stadium, I attacked, and when I was caught, I dedicated myself to leading out a teammate". Fourth (the teammate).

Tomorrow, the prologue at the Amahoro Stadium, 4.1 km. For Gasparini, "it's always like the first time". Adrenaline and endorphins. Discovery and knowledge. Starting with himself.