Rwanda will be the setting for the World Cycling Championships in 2025, with or without the much-discussed Kigali Wall. “The World Cup course will be a mix of a Flemish and Walloon classic”, it sounds.
In 3 years, the World Cycling Championships will take place in Africa for the first time, more specifically in Rwanda.
Mountain bikers Jens Schuermans and Frans Claes are present in the African country this week for the Rwanda Epic. They explored the Kigali Wall for Sporza, who could play the role of executioner at the World Cup.
“You should not underestimate the Wall of Kigali”, says Frans Claes. “But it’s not the slope to be much afraid of now either.”
The Kigali Wall is a 500 meter long cobblestone slope with a maximum gradient of 18 percent.
With which Flemish slope can you best compare the Wall? “It is 2 times the Molenberg in a row. So they will blow it up at the World Cup,” says Claes.
It’s not a meter flat here. The course builder can draw a very tough course here.
It is not yet known whether the Wall of Kigali will effectively be included in the World Cup course.
But there is no doubt that it will be a difficult World Cup course. “It is not a meter flat here,” says Simon De Schutter, organizer of the Rwanda Epic.
“The course designer can draw a very tough course here. A mix of a Flemish and a Walloon classic.”
Rwanda is not called “the land of a thousand hills” for nothing.
