The cycling governing body (Ferwacy) has unveiled the itinerary for the forthcoming 2024 Tour du Rwanda, with slight changes made on four of the eight stages that nitially featured in the race’s 2023 edition’s itinerary.
The routes for the 16th edition of the continental ultimate cycling challenge due from February 18-25 were announced during the Tour du Rwanda official presentation held at Atelier du Vin, Kigali, on Friday, November 24.
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The flagship event of African cycling promises to be as spectacular as ever and it will already have the colors of the 2025 UCI Road World Championship.
Two of the eight stages will in fact be run on the World Championship circuits. They included the time trial which will offer a unique Grand Départ with a team time trial around the Kigali Convention Centre and the final stage will already give an overview of the difficulties that await cyclists around the world in close to two years’ time.
The routes for this 2024 edition will consist, like in previous editions, of long climbs during most of the stages with, for the first time, in the middle of the week, a 13-kilometer individual time trial on the heights of Musanze.
In addition, the legendary passage to the summit of Mount Kigali is arguably one of the most challenging routes which will certainly make Tour of Rwanda 2024 the most difficult event.
Overall, cyclist will cover a distance of 740km in total to determine winner of Tour du Rwanda 2024 while the Rukomo (Gicumbi)-Kayonza route is the longest stage of the race with 163km.
16 teams confirmed for the race
Organisers also announced that 16 cycling teams were officially selected to participate while four more teams will be announced in December.
The major cycling nations of the African continent including Rwanda, Eritrea, Algeria, Ethiopia and South Africa will be represented, as will the professional teams that are accustomed to the most prestigious events on the international calendar such as the Tour de France, the Tour of Italy or the Tour of Spain.
Some prominent teams that confirmed their participation in the race include Israel-Premier Tech (Israel) and TotalEnergies, Groupama-FDJ (France), Soudal-QuickStep and Lotto-Dsnty (both Belgium) and the Kazakhs from Astana who will come with their team youth development.
Selected teams
Professional teams: Israel Premier Touch (Israel), Total Energies (France), Eolo Komera Cycling Team.
Continental teams: Soudal Quick Step Dev Team, Astana, Lotto Dstny, Groupanma (France) Bike Aid (Germany)
National teams: Rwanda, Algeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Africa, Italy, Mauritius and UCI CMC.
Stages
Stage 1: BK Arena –KCC Roundabout (Team Time Trial: 18km)
Stage 2: Muhanga-Kibeho: 130km
Stage 3: Huye-Rusizi (141km)
Stage 4: Karongi- Rubavu: 92km
Stage 5: Musanze- Kinigi (Individual Time Trial: 13km)
Stage 6: Musanze-Mont Kigali (93km)
Stage 7: Rukomo(Gicumbi)- Kayonza (163km)
Stage 8: KCC-KCC (90km).