A historic appointment: the cycling world championship lands in Africa, and Kigali 2025 (from September 21 to 28) is an absolute "first" for the Continent, purposely proposed in the Land of a Hundred Hills, which more than any other catalyzes passion around the two-wheeled sport.

Aldo Peinetti, a professional journalist and head of the sports editorial team of the local Turin weekly L'eco del Chisone, almost accidentally intercepted African Cycling, immersing himself in the organizational machine of the Tour du Rwanda thanks to contacts made during the double Tour de l'Avenir 2024 event in the Turin valleys.

In February, coinciding with the main African cycling race, the website/blog www.raggidafrica.it began to populate with content, promptly echoed by tuttobiciweb.

«It will be Tadej's (Pogacar) and Remco's (Evenepoel) World Championship, of Pauline (Ferrand Prevot) and our Elisa Longo Borghini. Yet, alongside the champions' names that stand out in large letters on the event's "poster", there is an entire continental galaxy converging on Kigali with particular ambitions. Rwanda will not offer easy exoticism to television viewers, or just a view of places with great landscape charm: it strongly wanted this world championship to show itself to the world, intercepting a dual driving force of cycling in terms of economic development and projection towards the future (even more important in a Country that rose to international notoriety due to the Genocide suffered in 1994). The overview of facts and human stories that will be enriched live during the Championships cannot be all-encompassing. For example, in recent months, it has allowed telling the story of Adrien Niyonshuti, who now lives in Lucca and was an Olympian in London. The first professional cyclist in Rwanda's history and now a technician for Benin, through cycling he found hope again, after the killing of his six brothers during the Genocide against the Tutsis».

And Peinetti then adds: «A curiosity concerns the route, which will offer cobblestone sections and a Flemish wall among palm avenues and banana plants - explains the curator of www.raggidafrica.it, ready to dedicate himself to the event, as already happened with the Tour du Rwanda, without too much defining the travel route -: it will be a fantastic event, an estimated 2 million spectators are expected roadside. This World Championship will offer African-side many shades of participation, logical ambitions of this or that among the over sixty federations of the Continent, first and foremost the host Country, recognizing Eritrean cycling as the undisputed male leader. There will also be the beacon man for all of Africa, Biniam Girmay, although the route is anything but for sprinters».

And among women?

«In the female category, after making headlines for wearing the yellow jersey at the Tour de France Femmes, Kimberley Le Court will bring the tiny Mauritius into the narrow group of favorites. Beyond sporting outcomes, this world championship represents a true turning point, promoting two-wheeled mobility - and youth practice - where owning a bike is often not a given, to make daily trips to school or in work life. Kigali 2025 is born to create a permanent and widespread legacy for every African state, favoring an acceleration of the globalization process undertaken by the International Cycling Union. The premise of everything, even in an equatorial sauce: the inestimable power of the universal language of pedaling». Tonight we depart, the adventure begins!

www.raggidafrica.it