"I would not be surprised if only twenty riders reach the finish" - Rwandan National coach previews the 2025 World Championships course

The hustle after rather controversial Zurich World Championships is yet to calm down, but many already look forward to what will be the first African road cycling World Championships ever. And the organizers from Rwanda prepared a brutal course that promises to tear up the peloton to pieces with winner the most resilient of all.

It is up to national coach David Louvet to ensure that the Rwandan riders do not make a fool of themselves in their own country next year. "Everyone knows the Mur de Kigali, with its cobblestones and super steep gradients. It will be early in the course next year, but it will be super tough. I would not be surprised if only twenty riders reach the finish," he tells NOS.

Even if Mur de Kigali (0.4km a 11%) combined with Mt. Kigali (5.9km a 6.9%) will be only contested once with 100 kilometers to go (sounds familiar), the local circuit that will be ridden 15 times will be enough of a challenge on its own with Cote de Kigali Golf (0.8km a 8.1%) and Cote de Kimihurura (1.3km a 6.3%). The total of nearly 5500 meters of climbing will be a brutal test of legs as well as guts. And here we are counting on ideal weather.

Another important person for Rwandan cycling is Félix Sampona. The man was leading the country's development for long years, before stepping down into an assistant role to a new national coach Louvet ahead of 2024. "For Rwanda, the World Cup is hugely important," he says. "It's a chance for us to show who we are. And to tell about our history."

It's not a history they're proud of in Rwanda, with genocide that took place 30 years ago still in vivid memory. But with joint efforts, the Rwandan people do their best to write a new, better chapter in their history. The 2025 World Championships are a ray of light for the Eastern-African country. An individual result be asking for too much, but even championships that runs smoothly, without major incidents and draws large crowds (as the Tour of Rwanda manages to do year after year) would be a massive success.