The EU Parliament calls for a cancellation: trap and sports watering: debate about cycling World Cup in Rwanda

If this is right with the failed general rehearsals, the World Championships in Rwanda should be a lavish cycling festival. After all, the largely planned final stage of the Tour of Rwanda had to be canceled on the World Cup course last Sunday, the weather did not play along. But that is currently the slightest problem.

Because a political debate has flared up around the first World Cup in an African country. Rwanda supports the M23 militia, which has been checking large areas for a few weeks in the raw material-rich east of the neighboring country Democratic Republic of Congo. The EU Parliament decided numerous sanctions against Rwanda and also called for a cancellation of the World Cup planned from September 21 to 28.

President at votes

David Lappartient, President of the World Association UCI, is unimpressed by this. “There is no plan B,” said the Frenchman and quickly wiped alternatives from the table like moving to Switzerland. At the beginning of the Tour of Rwanda, trifling was friendly and swiveling flags in the capital Kigali. Everything is certain, everything is peaceful if the message should be.

However, not all teams saw that. The Belgian Equipe Soudal-Quickstep refrained from sending its young team to Rwanda. “The stages three and four are just a stone’s throw from the place of the rebels,” said sports director Kevin Hulsmans. That was questionable for him. In fact, the peloton only drove just ten kilometers from the conflict zone. There were no incidents, the Federal Foreign Office is currently warning of non -necessary trips to the border area.

The fact that trap artistic is held at the venue of Rwanda is also likely to have political reasons. After all, the 51-year-old wants to succeed IOC President Thomas Bach in March. His chances are considered low, but additional vertebrae around the World Cup should not be helpful. In addition, his re-election to the UCI president would be coming up this year.

Even with unwanted people like the Belgian Johan Bruyneel, this goes too far. “The selfie king continues to operate lobbying for votes,” commented the former team boss of Lance Armstrong Lapparten’s Rwanda visit.

Apart from moral concerns, completely different hurdles thin out the field of participants for the World Cup in advance. Large cycling nations such as Denmark and the Netherlands do without sending their offspring to Rwanda and even the Belgians weighed their contingent – for cost reasons.

It’s not just about logistics. “We don’t know much about the course yet, but we have seen that the hotel prices are very high. Sometimes even higher than in Zurich,” said women’s coach André Korff on the sidelines of the past World Cup in Switzerland. At that time, nations often paid over 300 euros per night for a room.

There are also extensive vaccinations, such as against malaria, hepatitis A and yellow fever. “The drivers have concerns about how this could affect their achievements,” said Frederik Broché, technical director of the Belgian association.

Rwanda is accused of doing nothing more than sports washing with millions of investments in sport. The title fights are intended to cover the fact that opposition figures are suppressed in the country, the M23 militia is accused of various war crimes and only benefits from the economic upswing a small elite, while most of the population remains bitter arm.

Millions for a positive image

The autocratic President Paul Kagame eagerly screws the positive image. The FIFA World Federation Association held a congress in Kigali, teams such as FC Bayern, FC Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are supported as a sponsor. “Rather, this sponsoring is an attempt to disguise violent acts,” said the oppositional Carine Kanimba in the ARD podcast “Sport Inside”.

At the moment you are trying to make a Formula 1 route reality. The cancellation of the cycling World Cup would be a sensitive setback, and it should ultimately not occur.