Jan Bakelants uses 431km gravel ride to raise funds for 'proper' education of girls in Rwanda ahead of Road Worlds

Jan Bakelants competes with Belgian team at 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships in Italy
Jan Bakelants competes with Belgian team at 2023 UCI Gravel World Championships in Italy (Image credit: Thomas Maheux/SWpixcom)

Two weeks from now, and 301 days before the UCI Road World Championships descend on the African continent for the first time, Jan Bakelants will ride his gravel bike on a seven-day challenge in Rwanda. It's not a race, but a reason to raise funds for youth education in Rwanda. 

In a collaboration with Vélo Afrique and Plan International Belgium, Bakelants will join two dozen other riders on a supported 431km ride with 7,253 metres of elevation gain from east Rwanda through volcanic landscapes, red dirt roads and forests, beginning on November 23. The final day in Kigali is expected to include a segment up the Wall of Kigali, a famous cobbled climb in the UCI stage race Tour du Rwanda that will be part of the 15.1km circuit at the Road Worlds next September.

Jackie Tyson
North American Production editor

Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).