Pro racing near an active war zone? World Tour teams may pull out of Tour du Rwanda amidst serious safety concerns
Cycling
The World Championships will take place in Rwanda this year, and so more than ever the Tour du Rwanda's notoriety and importance grows. However facing big questions and concerns over an armed conflict where the African nation is involved, a few of the top teams may decide last-minute to forfeit the event.
The World Championships' first edition in the African continent is an historical milestone, however with seven months to go there are major concerns of it's viability. The event will take place in Rwanda, based on it's capital of Kigali, which has proven to be an extremely popular cycling hotspot as shown in the country's top race.
But in recent weeks an armed conflict has re-opened in the nearby Congo. Since 2022, Rwandan forces have entered the internationally recognized borders of the Congo to support the M23 rebel groups against the Congolese government. Perhaps this would go rather unnoticed in the world of professional cycling, but that is not the case because the Tour du Rwanda will be racing only a few dozen kilometers away from the active conflict area.
The geopolitical situation is a complex one and it is very unlikely to be resolved in the upcoming weeks. The race begins on the 23rd February, and teams such as Soudal - Quick-Step, UAE Team Emirates - XRG, Lotto, Israel - Premier Tech, Team Picnic PostNL and TotalEnergies will have either their elite or under-23 structures present (although they can freely choose riders from their elite team, under specific conditions).
Het Nieuiwsblad questions Soudal - Quick-Step DS Kevin Hulsmans over the possibility of the team not taking part in the event which starts in just over two weeks. “I have done the Tour of Rwanda twice in the past as sports director. Beautiful race, fun to ride, great field of participants. Normally at least. Because now I am quite worried. I have looked at the stage schedule and stages three and four will be a stone's throw from where the rebels are. It is perhaps fifty kilometers less. Including an overnight stay in that region. I do have some questions about that.”
Kigali itself is only 160 kilometers away from the city of Goma where Rwandan-backed forces entered only days ago, but the race will take place at times only dozens of kilometers away from the border and it will even include an overnight stay in the region - only kilometers away from an area where there is active shelling from both sides which is leading to civilian casualties.
Team CEO Jurgen Foré shares the concerns over the possibility of having his riders so close to the conflict zone, where a lot can happen. "They guarantee our safety, they say. But what does that mean? Even if there is only a small chance that something will happen, even that is too much. I am willing to believe that there is nothing wrong in the interior of Rwanda and that everything is calm and safe. But we would have at least liked them to stay further away from the region in question. And that is not the intention at the moment. That is a cause for concern.”
Currently this developing situation not only threatens the Tour du Rwanda itself, but also the very possibility of the World Championships taking place in Kigali. Although the UCI denies it, there are rumours that a 'plan B' route is being organized in Switzerland if the situation does not improve.
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Rainy day ahead at the #EDB25, but this won’t stop the guys from giving their best again 👊 pic.twitter.com/pZUAJ4M24K
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) February 7, 2025
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- Why is that relevant when discussing speed?Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- But he wasn’t the only one ;-)Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- Obviously the questions are more important to some here than to them or the team so I suggest looking for answers instead of asking questions between ourselves. We’ll probably get them unless someone actually goes to ask the protagonists themselves. Here are some starters : They like riding together; they have their own rivalry that helps bring out the best in both; they might get more points helping each other compared to racing separate races. In any case, unless we hear MJ complaining about it, I don’t think it’s going to change, it’s the Sepp Kuss syndrome all over again, fans lobbying against the will of the rider.Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- Mine goes to MVDP for entertaining us all year round :-) Stellar race, Ganna impressive in his own way as many predicted after some oddly lacklustre times.Mistermaumau23-03-2025
- i remember when not too long ago mathieu was regarded as a real tactical knucklehead. i’m not sure that was ever quite accurate, but it’s certainly the case that over the years he has become a real master tactician. in the biggest races, van der poel rarely makes choices that don’t fully optimize every specific advantage he has.OCexile23-03-2025
- Whatever the result, I believe the strategy by UAE to launch Pogacar was absolutely the right one. Unfortunately, they just were not able to execute it the way they must have planned, being all over the place at the start of the Cipressa.Cooldude23-03-2025
- They are without doubt not just the best two classics riders of this generation, but amongst the best of all time. MvdP is more suited to MSR and PR (which Pog has yet to race), while Pog is now almost untouchable at LBL and Lombardia. RVV is the only one where both basically have an equal chance to win.Cooldude23-03-2025
- bravissima!
maria2024202423-03-2025 - According to Tadej's Strava upload, he went up the Cipressa at an average speed of 37.6kph. Rocket ship! He did the 5.63km verified 'Cipressa' Strava segment in 8:59 minutes, which has a 4.3% average grade and total elevation gain of 229m. Naturally, he got the Strava KOM.Pogboom23-03-2025
- In Track and Field, there's Usain Bolt in the sprints and Kenya's Kipchoge in the marathon. Though Bolt can quite easily beat Kipchoge in the 100m dash, he probably won't even finish a marathon. Tadej won't beat Mathieu in a sprint, yet he wins the TDF while MVDP languishes in 50th place. Both are great champions in their respective fields, but my admiration goes to Tadej for trying.FredMan23-03-2025