Pride and excitement as Africa hosts road cycling world championships for the first time

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — On a busy roadside in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, Ronald Yiga bent over his racing bicycle, inspecting the wheels.

Dressed in shiny black sweatpants, a yellow, red and green top and a helmet, the 32-year-old cyclist was preparing for the road cycling world championships in neighboring Rwanda, the first time the event has taken place in Africa in its 104-year history.

For Yiga and colleagues from his Fun Cycling Club, a small but growing community of riders in Uganda, the competition offered a chance to race alongside their heroes and maybe catapult a sport in Africa that has long felt like a pastime.

“This is so big for the continent,” said Yiga, who took up cycling during the COVID-19 pandemic to ride around lockdown public transport restrictions.

Yiga said he will be excited to see Tadej Pogačar, the reigning road race world champion and four-time Tour de France winner, in this week's championships in Rwanda. The Slovenian rider will compete Sunday in the men's elite road race, with the women's race set for Saturday.

“I can’t wait to see him (Pogačar) ... because I have been seeing him on TV in the Tour de France. I can’t wait,” said the full-time cellphone repairer, before setting out on a 100-kilometer training ride.

For Aziz Ssempijja, Yiga’s teammate, it is more than just representing Uganda.

“I might perform well in these championships and you never know I might get a team that can be able to spot my talent … that can push my skills to the next level,” he said.

“This could open doors for us,” adds Rwandan national team cyclist Eric Manizabayo. “It’s about my future.”

Like others from Mali or South Sudan, many African riders race with vintage rim-brake bikes when professionals ride much more expensive machines. Yet they remain undeterred.

The championships could provide a breakthrough moment for Africa, said Jacques Landry, director of the World Cycling Center, a development initiative set up by world cycling body UCI.

“They’re not a finality of what’s going on in Africa. They’re a rebirth of what can happen moving forward. I think for most of the national federations, they do see it as a way to ignite more activities in Africa, the linchpin of African cycling,” said Landry.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, cycling is still considered low-key, often associated with commuters or those of modest means. But its popularity is rising, with more local competitions giving riders, including children, “a race to go to, whereas before there were no races,” said Landry.

Thousands of visitors have descended on Kigali, where the competition runs until Sunday. A global audience of over 300 million is expected to watch elite riders from about 100 nations test themselves on courses, including the men’s 273-kilometer (179-mile) road race on Sunday up the Mur du Kigali with over 3,500 meters of elevation gain.

“This is our moment to show the world Rwanda’s spirit,” said Eric Mupenzi, a motorcycle taxi operator navigating the capital’s police-controlled streets. “We will line the hills and roar for every rider, like the whole city is pedaling together,” he said.

“We will cheer so loud that the world can hear us,” vowed Jean de Dieu Uwimana, a fan in Kigali.

Rwanda has invested in turning its hilly terrain into a launchpad for world-class cycling.

“We have gone from community competitions to hosting the world,” said Valentin Bigango, vice president of the Rwanda Cycling Federation. “This is about legacy, inspiring our young talents, growing tourism, and proving Africa is ready.”

The championships crown years of effort by Rwanda to project itself through sport.

President Paul Kagame’s administration has invested in venues like the $100 million BK Arena, which hosted the Basketball Africa League finals, struck partnerships with European soccer teams, and may bid to host Formula 1’s first African Grand Prix in more than three decades.

“The sky is the limit,” Kagame said earlier this year while inaugurating a new sports facility in Kigali. “Sports can bring tens of billions to Africa, and we must be part of that story.”

But Rwanda’s sporting ambitions are not without controversy. Rights groups accuse the government of repression and using high-profile events to “sportswash” its image. U.S. senators last year warned the NBA against complicity in abuses through its Rwanda partnerships.

The conflict in eastern Congo, where Rwanda is accused of backing the M23 rebel group, had cast doubt on these cycling championships going ahead in Rwanda.

Still, enthusiasm in the streets is hard to miss. Motorcycle taxi operators pause rides to talk about their favorite cyclists. Market vendors line the hillsides to watch. Children peer out from the crowd to cheer.

Ugandan cyclists see it much the same. Yiga believes the races will lift not only Rwanda but the entire region’s tourism industry.

“These championships have never been in Africa so it’s going to help us a lot. We Africans need to give a good performance so that Europeans can also know that Africans can do cycling,” said his teammate, Ssempijja.

Mutsaka reported from Harare, Zimbabwe.

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Amateur cyclists take part in a social ride on the eve of the start of the UCI road cycling world championships In Kigali, Rwanda, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

People walk and cycle along a dirt road during the men's Under 23 individual time trial event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A man pushes his bicycle as he crosses the road during the team time trial mixed relay event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Mali team members get ready for Time Trial practice for the upcoming UCI road cycling world championships In Kigali, Rwanda, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Team Rwanda competes, during the team time trial mixed relay event, at the road cycling World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded deadly strikes overnight and on Saturday morning, killing 10 people and wounding several dozen more, officials on both sides said Saturday.

The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He will also meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians.

“We are working to strengthen our partnership to ensure the real protection of lives, advance stability, and guarantee security in Europe and the Middle East. Joint efforts always yield the best results,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the messaging app Telegram after arriving in Istanbul.

Russia fired 286 drones at Ukraine overnight, 260 of which were downed, the Ukrainian Air Force said in an online statement.

Five people — three women and two men — were killed in the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and 19 others were wounded, the head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Hanzha said. The attack damaged market stalls and a shop.

In the city of Sumy, not far from the border with Russia, a strike wounded 11 people, the National Police said. Residential areas were hit, and houses, cars and utility networks were damaged in the attack.

In the capital, Kyiv, a drone strike caused a fire on the first floor of a three-story office and warehouse building, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. No casualties were reported.

In the partially occupied Donetsk region, a Russian drone strike hit a civilian car on the Kostyantynivka–Druzhkivka road on Saturday morning, killing one woman and wounding another, according to the head of the Kostyantynivka City Military Administration, Serhiy Horbunov.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that its forces fired “long-range air- and ground-based precision weapons, as well as strike drones” at unspecified “military-industrial and energy facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

Meanwhile, the Russian-installed head of the occupied Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said Ukrainian forces hit railroad infrastructure in the region and private houses, killing a family of three — a couple and their 8-year-old child.

The Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, claimed it used drone strikes to halt production at a metallurgical plant in the Russian-occupied city of Alchevsk in the Luhansk region, most of which is controlled by the Russian forces.

The SBU said on its Facebook page that drone strikes damaged blast furnaces, key production workshops, distillation columns, gas pipelines and electrical substations that power the plant, which supplies Russia’s state tank and railroad car plant, Uralvagonzavod.

There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian military overnight shot down 85 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions, the annexed Crimea region and the Black Sea.

In Russia's Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, one person was killed and four sustained injuries, according to the region's governor, Yuri Slyusar. The attack sparked a fire at a warehouse facility of an unspecified logistics company, and another fire on a dry-cargo vessel flying a foreign flag several kilometers from the shore, Slyusar said.

In the Samara region's city of Tolyatti, one person was wounded, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. The roof of a residential building was damaged and windows were shattered in several apartments, he said.

In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, April 4, 2026, a Russian T-72B3M tank fires towards Ukrainian position. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)