Marco Pastonesi, an excellent writer for tuttobiciweb and former sports journalist for Gazzetta dello Sport, returns to bookstores with Ediciclo Editore's Black Roads (in bookstores from September 12, Sports Myths collection), a book that collects one hundred curious, unpublished, forgotten stories of cycling in Africa and African cyclists. The perfect book to prepare for the upcoming Cycling World Championships in Rwanda, which will be held in Kigali and surroundings from September 21 to 28.

The project was born from the author's journey in 2006 to Burkina Faso to follow the Tour du Faso. Since then, Pastonesi has continued to cultivate stories and encounters, between past and present: from champions Bottecchia, Bartali, and Coppi who raced in Africa, to Alessio Gasparini, the first Italian rider hired by a Rwandan team; from Dino Giuseppin, a former rider who became a legend in Zambia, to Biniam Girmay, the first African cyclist to win a top-level European classic.

These are stories that cross eras and continents, moving from exploration to competition, from racism to solidarity, told with a human and sometimes amused gaze. There's Abdel-Kader Zaaf who at the 1950 Tour de France, instead of water, drank cognac and fell asleep; there's Ali Neffati, a Tunisian at the 1913 Tour with a fez; there are the pedal strokes of Adrien Niyonshuti, a symbol of Rwandan cycling renaissance.

Over the years, Pastonesi has closely followed four editions of the Tour du Rwanda and has cycled in South Africa and equatorial African countries. From these experiences, intertwined with intense historical research and writing capable of capturing the human dimension of sport, Black Roads is born: a choral narrative that reveals the unknown face of African cycling, from the dusty roads of the continent to the World Championships stage.