Photo: Ilona Kamps
There are several bicycle races held in Africa each year: Tour of Rwanda, Tour of Eritrea and the Tour du Gabon are only a few examples. Due to these races, the cycling sport grows enormously in popularity in Africa.
At the same time, infrastructure is one of the main problems of African countries. In Cote d’Ivoire for example, only 8,12% of the roads is paved. In a huge country like Congo (DR) only 1,82% of the roads is paved and in a smaller country like Burkina Faso only 4,17% of the roads is paved. (World Bank data)
The Chinese are working hard to build the necessary roads in Africa, but they only do this in exchange for land and minerals. There could be however a much simpler way to build and maintain roads in African countries: Organize the prologue of the Tour de France in Africa.
If the prologue of the Tour de France is held in an African country, say Uganda, it will most certainly cause a lot of media attention. Due to this international pressure, the government of Uganda has to make sure the whole race is held without problems. This also means that the roads have to be ready for the stage.
In the end, every party benefits from this race. Uganda will have a good reputation, the Tour de France will have an international scoop and the Ugandan people will have more good roads that can be used for transport and they will be able to take part of a great event like the Tour de France. This will increase cycling in Africa which in the end might also result in the first black man in the Tour de France.
