A parcours for Tadej Pogačar? Rwanda set to be the most mountainous World Championships in 5 years

The 2025 edition of cycling's World Championships in Rwanda is set to be the most mountainous decider of a world champion in five years, with more than 5,000m of climbing packed into the men’s race.

Next September will mark the first time that the men’s and women’s road and time trial world championships will be contested in Africa, with the UCI, cycling’s world governing body, announcing the small country as hosts back in 2021.

Centred in and around the capital city of Kigali, the competitions are expected to take place over a nine-day period, with the time trials preceding the road races.

Attending the ongoing Tour de France, the president of the Rwanda Cycling Federation, Samson Ndayishimiye, told Cycling Weekly that “when we talk about [Rwanda being a] country of 1,000 hills, it should make a lot of sense” that the parcours is mountainous, adding that “for the men around 5,000m [of elevation] and the women around 3,000m.”

That would make it the most demanding world championships course since Imola in 2020, when the men’s race packed in just a little bit over 5,000m of climbing, and the women’s race almost 3,500m. Julian Alaphilippe and Anna van der Breggen were the winners in Italy.

Ndayishimiye added that Kigali Hill, a short, steep cobbled climb of Tour of Rwanda fame, will “definitely, definitely” be included as “it’s a signature in our cycling world.”

Sources on the organising committee later informed CW that Mount Kigali, a 5.7km climb averaging 7%, would also be included in the route, as well as four other notable climbs. 

Sources indicated that Mount Kigali would be situated around 70km from the finish line before the riders tackle a series of shorter ascents; it has previously been rumoured that both courses would finish with a short climb.

It is expected that the final route will be announced at this September’s Worlds, which take place in Zurich, Switzerland.

The climb-laden routes will therefore appeal to the likes of Tadej Pogačar and Demi Vollering, riders who are also favourites to triumph in 2024’s world championships

Although Rwanda has only ever had one WorldTour male cyclist – Adrian Niyonshuti, formerly of Dimension Data – it is widely regarded as one of the hotbeds of African cycling, even if Eritrea and Ethiopia have produced more top-level riders.

Organisers are describing the event “not as a race, but as an event for Africa”, and it is hoped that, in spite of the extra cost of flying to the country, European cycling fans will attend.

Ndayishimiye said: “We’re encouraging people to book hotels in advance, to put their names down and to be part of history. We’re thinking out the box to make it more eventful for everyone involved. They can visit other attractions such as the gorillas and the national parks and forests. There are so many other activities and different packages on offer.”