Minister of Sports Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju has made a pledge that Rwanda will do all it can to organise a successful memorable UCI Road World Championships which is exactly two years away from kickoff.
Munyangaju made the remarks on Thursday, September 21, while officially launching the road to UCI Road World Championships that will unfold in Kigali from September 21-28.
The Minister said that preparations for the race are underway and all stakeholders are being involved to ensure a successful event in all aspects.
"In two short years’ time, and eight days' long stop, the cycling world will set sights on Kigali for the remarkable cycling event. Our goal is to make it an excellent and memorable competition for all participants,” Munyangaju said.
"With the experience that Rwanda has acquired organizing cycling competitions, I am calling on all involved in your respective areas of operations and interests to pull away all efforts and resources as we make progress towards September 2025. Work is already underway here in Kigali for cyclists’ preparation, service standardization, and cyclists’ readiness, we are all in all the way to 2025,” she added.
Rwanda is increasingly establishing itself into a sports tourism destination, hosting a number of big sports events at the international level like Tour du Rwanda in cycling, Basketball Africa League (BAL) and FIBA Afrobasket, men and women, in Basketball and Kigali International Peace Marathon in athletics to name a few.
Rwanda in September 2021 outbid Morocco to win the hosting rights for the 2025 Road World Championships, becoming first African country to organise the world’s biggest cycling event since its inception in 1921.
Amina Lanaya, the Director General of the World Cycling governing body (UCI) commended Rwanda for positioning itself as a cycling destination to the extent of winning a vote of confidence from UCI to host such an event of Road World Championships’ caliber.
"Everybody is asking us, everybody is excited to be in Kigali and when we made this announcement in 2021, there were only smiles on the faces of people. So, again we&039;re going to get back together and we are going to make this event historical in 2025,” Lanaya said.
"We want Africans to rise and shine at the UCI Road World Championship and I hope they make it to the podium,” she added.
Cyclists upbeat
Rwandan cyclists have already started preparations for the highly-anticipated UCI Road World Championship and the country is set to be represented in both men and women categories.
The selected riders are camping at Africa Rising Cycling Center in Musanze and are training under the tutelage of new head coach David Louvet who was appointed to the position in August.
Cyclists will compete in men and women’s juniors, men and women U23 as well as men and women Elites.
Team Rwanda’s Jean Eric Habimana is one of riders who are training with the national team for the coming race. He told Times Sport that hosting the race in Kigali will benefit Rwandan cyclists as a platform that would introduce them to international teams.
"We are looking forward to it and we see this as an opportunity for us Rwandan cyclists to show what we can offer for the cycling world. And we hope to perform well at home,” said Habimana who will be making his second appearance in the Road World Championship.
Kigali targets to welcome over 5,000 cyclists, and over 20,000 delegates for the 2025 UCI Road World Championship.
Available data shows that the event is followed by more than 200 million people worldwide via over 450 international media agencies that gather for coverage from the host nation.