Denmark pull out of Kigali 2025 junior and under-23 categories due to high cost
Announcement follows doubts from Belgian cycling federation about their participation in the championships
The Danish Cycling Union has decided to withdraw its junior and under-23 riders from the 2025 World Road Race Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. The Danish team will only feature riders from the elite men’s and women’s categories.
A statement on the Cykling Danmark website said: “Denmark's Cycling Union has made the difficult decision that the Danish U19 and U23 national teams will not participate in the 2025 Road Cycling World Championships in Rwanda. The decision was made on the basis of financial considerations and the special preparations required to compete at altitudes between 1,500 and 1,700 metres.”
The Championships is set to make history as the first of its kind in Africa, building on the success of Biniam Girmay at this year’s Tour de France as the UCI looks to develop the sport in the continent.
The decision comes after reports of hotels in the cities hiking up prices, something which is common during major events. The additional costs for travel and other expenses have forced Denmark’s hand to withdraw from the younger categories. It’s the first time that Denmark have failed to participate in the under-23 category at a world championships, although they did withdraw from the juniors for Wollongong 2022 for similar reasons.
Denmark are thought not to be the only country considering similar actions. General Manager of the Belgium Cycling Federation Nathalie Clauwaert said in August that “in terms of budget, I am a bit apprehensive about the World Championships in Rwanda,” she said to Het Laatste Nieuws in an interview where she discussed the difficulties many federations are facing when it comes to the financial resources needed to fully participate in the sport.
“Because this World Championships is seen as a once in a lifetime, the hotel sector near the capital Kigali is trying to squeeze every last drop out of it, resulting in astronomical room prices. The provisional cost of this trip is twice as high as the World Championships in Australia [in 2022]. We are currently still negotiating vigorously with hotels, but so far without result.”
“If no affordable solution is found, I fear that we will have to make decisions. Sending a mini-delegation to Kigali is a possibility. We are not alone. Even British Cycling, known for its large budgets, is not yet certain of participating in the World Cup in Rwanda,” she added.
At the time, Global Peloton contacted British Cycling for comment on their participation in the Championships.
“Obviously, everything is subject to change but at the moment we are very much planning on attending the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda,” a British Cycling representative said.
Denmark have been one of the most successful nations in the under-23 and junior categories at recent world championships. Albert Withen Philipsen - of Lidl-Trek in 2025 - won the junior men’s road race in 2023
Elite manager of the Danish Cycling Federation Morten Bennekou added: "From a purely sporting point of view, we are of course very sad that we have had to make a decision not to participate in either the U19 or U23 WC for both men and women in 2025. But the journey to and the stay in Rwanda is very costly, and each individual rider group and the extra staff, etc., which a rider group triggers, make it so expensive that we have had to make a responsible financial decision in a year in which the elite budget will already have to be cut compared to 2024.”
“However, I would like to emphasise that our decision for 2025 does not necessarily set a precedent in relation to the coming years, when the WC road championship will also in several cases be run overseas.”
The Championships, although seen by many as a great success for the globalisation of cycling, has already been rocked by the arrests of the Rwanda Cycling Federation’s two top men in 2023 on suspicion of favouritism, forgery, and falsification. Around the same time, the organiser for the Worlds, who in also put together February’s Tour du Rwanda, also resigned.
Since then, replacements have been found for the Federation roles and ASO and Golazo have stepped in as organisers for the Championships, with Golazo also running the Tour du Rwanda.
The 2025 Road World Championships is set to take place between the 21st and 28th of September next year.
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Unfortunate..but budgets re not unlimited. Besides am not clear on how much Rwanda is really supporting and promoting the event