Lappartient defends 2025 Rwanda Worlds amid human rights and sportswashing concerns

UCI president David Lappartient at the 2020 World Championships in Imola, Italy
UCI president David Lappartient at the 2020 World Championships in Imola, Italy (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

UCI president David Lappartient has defended the decision to grant the 2025 Road World Championships to Rwanda, in face of human rights concerns. The president of the Rwandan cycling federation, meanwhile, has insisted that ‘sport and politics cannot be mixed’.

A couple of days after the cat was let out of the bag, Rwanda was officially confirmed and announced as the host for the 2025 Road Worlds during the UCI Congress at the 2021 Worlds in Belgium on Friday. 

Patrick Fletcher

Patrick is a freelance sports writer and editor. He’s an NCTJ-accredited journalist with a bachelor’s degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Patrick worked full-time at Cyclingnews for eight years between 2015 and 2023, latterly as Deputy Editor.