'We have lots of questions' - Belgium delays Rwanda World Championships visit but UCI insist cycling is an 'ambassador for peace'

Britain's Joe Blackmore won the 2024 Tour du Rwanda
Britain's Joe Blackmore won the 2024 Tour du Rwanda (Image credit: Guillem Sartorio / AFP / Getty Images)

The Belgian Cycling Federation has delayed its  reconnaissance trip to Rwanda for this year's Road World Championships, amidst growing concerns about security for the September event due to the rapidly developing conflict in the Goma region of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. 

"We have lots of questions," a top BCF official, Nathalie Clauwaert, told Dernière Heure, "and we're not the only ones."

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.