WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

A historic week of racing awaits as the Worlds heads to Rwanda

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The old countries of Europe are professional cycling’s heartland, but other nations also have pedigree in the sport.

Rwanda’s national tour has been running since 1988 and has more recently burgeoned into an international UCI event.

This month, however, will be a big step up as Rwanda becomes the first African nation to host the road World Championships. The nation is known as the Land of a Thousand Hills; the riders won't have to climb them all, but the road race courses, based in the capital of Kigali, have managed to shoehorn plenty in - and the time trials are also far from flat.

With events starting this Sunday, 21 September, with the elite time trials, and culminating next weekend in the elite road races, fans should be in for a thrilling week as the world’s best riders battle it out for the rainbow bands.

If you thought that Zürich's 2024 World Championships road race was hilly, think again. As Africa hosts the event for the first time, Kigali brings an incredibly climb-heavy course to the table. With 5,475m of elevation over 267.5km in the elite men's parcours, it is the hilliest road race since Sallanches, France, in 1980, and the only time over 5,000m of climbing has been tackled in a Worlds in the 21st century. It's akin to a Giro d'Italia epic mountain day. Similarly, the elite women's race officially has 3,350m of elevation, the most of any Worlds road race in the professional era.

All of this will be done at altitude, too, with Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, sitting at 1,567m above sea level, higher than the capital of Andorra, where many pro cyclists live. It is a World Championships made for climbers, especially those who thrive in thin air.