The heights tackled in yesterday's stage of the Tour of Rwanda brought attackers and the peloton up to 36 km from the Ugandan border, in a territory dominated by volcanic profiles. Standing out above all is the Mount Karisimbi, with its 4,507 meters. Musanze, a town that is an ideal base for visits (1,500 dollars per person, given the need to limit access) to the gorilla reserve, also hosts a training center for cyclists where Veronese rider Alessio Gasparini lived for almost two months. A structure destined to become even more significant, given the inauguration last Sunday of the Regional Development Center satellite of the World Cycling Center. An initiative in which the UCI and the host country strongly believe. Musanze, where nearby natural parks invite tranquility, takes advantage of the Tour of Rwanda for a yellow jersey night animated by a DJ who doesn't skimp on decibels. Well, okay.

From Musanze to Casa Amstel, and this won't be a rhyming couplet between Rwanda and Holland. In Rubavu, Wednesday's stage concludes precisely in the location that hosts the brewery of the famous brand belonging to the Heineken group. The sponsorship of an entrepreneurial giant reflects how the main African stage race catalyzes a following, also as an advertising vehicle, made unique by public participation literally kilometer after kilometer. There will be time, if it happens, to get used to a popular participation that places this equatorial version of cycling well beyond the preview effect of the world championship scheduled for September.

The finish line will be placed less than 10 kilometers from the Congo border, beyond which the area near Lake Kivu has recently made international headlines. The tragedy that occurred in the Goma region, where 3,000 deaths have been estimated following the advance of the M23 militia rebels, is set in long-standing conflict dynamics, which do not lend themselves to univocal interpretations. However, the complexity of geopolitical analyses, even when viewed from the Rwandan side traversed during a cycling competition, is preceded by the observation that this is also a humanitarian drama. Diplomacy will do the rest, including sports diplomacy. At least we hope.

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