“This World Championship will be a test for the peloton’s willingness to be vaccinated” - Jan Bakelants raises concerns over upcoming trip to Rwanda
Cycling
In 2025, the road cycling World Championships head to new ground, with the peloton set to embark on a journey to Rwanda, Africa for the see who can get their hands on the next Rainbow Jersey. According to ex-pro turned expert analyst Jan Bakelants however, the trip might raise issues for some top stars.
A big concern for travellers to the Rwandan region currently, is the Marburg virus disease (MVD) but diseases and illnesses such as Malaria, yellow fever, hepatitis A and B, typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria and more all feature on travel advice warnings across the internet. Whilst a vaccination is not mandatory to enter Rwanda, most national authorities do recommend it before visiting. In the opinion of Bakelants, this is what may push some riders to avoid the next edition of the World Championships.
“This World Championship will be a test for the peloton’s willingness to be vaccinated,” Bakelants says in his analysis for HLN. “Not everyone was happy with the Covid vaccinations a few years ago. Some riders were ill for weeks. That negative experience means that a number of riders will not be eager to get vaccinated again.”
As mentioned, whilst vaccinations are not mandatory, they are recommended. "It seems smarter to do it," says Bakelants. "And then you better do it as soon as possible. Suppose you are two weeks less well today after an injection, then that is not so bad. But if you have that in the spring, or in the run-up to the Tour or just before the World Championship, then you have a problem. At such a moment you really do not want to be five percent less because you got vaccinated at the wrong time."
"It could be a very nice World Championship and you shouldn't scare people too much. It's not like Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel are going to trek through the bush and sleep under two banana leaves, the conditions will be okay, but you do have to take precautions," continues the Belgian. "For example, there was an outbreak of the Marburg virus in Kigali recently and that's no laughing matter. So it is better to be careful and take proactive measures."
First-ever road world championships in Africa, on the most challenging course ever in Rwanda. The land of a thousand hills.#Kigali2025 #RidingNewHeights pic.twitter.com/feoiOS0eIr
— 𝗞𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗶 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 (@Kigali2025) October 8, 2024
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- That a very plausible explanation why some of them have tattoos. I'm not aware of such behaviour because I don't follow other sports. Thanks for the explanation even though it may not apply to all scenarios.
KerisVroom12-01-2025 - You realise that’s an extremely ambiguous expression right but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt:-) It may not hold at this level but a lot of guys in sport “offer” themselves a tattoo (the Ironman logo is an extremely popular example) for reaching their personal goal, which can turn into a reason the lose motivation for lack of having another. Obviously Mr X doesn’t have this attitude, more prone to act as to warrant such perspicacious James Bond titles like The world is never enough, but most of us at some point become happy or satisfied with what we’ve achieved or our mind resigns itself to not believing we can attain more and just lose the will to go further in THAT direction. But the again, I don’t recall Froome having any so who knows ;-)Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- Pretty much sums it up. Races today are often fast from the go as many know it’s their only chance of an upset. GTs are basically fast EVERY day now, whereas in the past there were stages you’d consider asking your money back (if it was a paying sport) so slow and uneventful were they. One of numerous reasons the average speeds jumped up, that doesn’t necessarily mean anyone is speeding downhill any faster, even Pidcock with a huge chainring is going to brake before a bend, it’s not the top speed that matters, it’s your racing experience that knows what the limit is for each situation and many just don’t have enough of this experience for the races they’re doing or no longer care collectively like in the past with its unwritten rules of the peleton. The prize money and cutthroat employment market is also leading to more risk/reward acceptance among the peleton as a whole.Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- Comparing now yes but I think what he was trying to bring over is that he’s progessing so well that he’s on a par or faster than Wout was at his stage (which can be considered kind of true but as Wout wasn’t on the road to compare and Magnier has kind of stopped CC (to please those who got sick of XC) and MTB, it could be debated infinitely :-) Let’s just agree that for a kid just fresh from school, at age 20 he’s got no problem mixing it with the big boys when it comes to crossing the line first, he was one of the revelations of 2024 but as we know, it’s a result in the GTs that decide if the masses pick you up. If you look at the 2024 Tour of Britain (a favourite of Wout), he won 3/6 stages, came 2nd once, lead the peleton to cross in 9th once and would have been a favourite to win the last stage too if he hadn’t fallen (another favourite ou Wout ;-)), that’s pretty impressive for a 20y old and shows he not only has the speed but also the stamina to have it repetitively, I accept the comparison, he could be the next Wout, a little less versatile and probably not quite the stamina for 3 week GTs but a little faster for finishes? It’s possible.Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- Interesting! Spill the tea, pleaseKerisVroom12-01-2025
- I wish him luck but he should remember what many cyclists know, you can often perform well when you don’t feel good and be disappointed on days you feel good. Also that GC one day racing statement isn’t so true, not all GC riders would beat one day specialists, one obvious example is Jonas, definitely among the best in GC but hardly likely to beat MVDP, WVA amongst many in classics. He may be biased by a current crop of GC riders who are just on a higher level in several domains.Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- There might be a psychological explanation for that ;-)Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- It’s certainly more interesting to watch than most men’s races.Mistermaumau12-01-2025
- magnier is “a lot faster than wout”? really? because i haven’t seen ANYONE who’s a LOT faster than wout. van der poel is a LITTLE faster than wout, sometimes. pogačar is a little faster then wout, sometimes. but magnier is just A LOT FASTER, apparently. ok, tim…OCexile12-01-2025
- There is a corelation between the amount of tattoo one has and drop of performance. Examples: Filippo Ganna and Caleb Ewan. More data is needed. Maybe Tadej should a few tattoos!KerisVroom12-01-2025