Team Rwanda head coach David Louvet has said that his national team roster has the package needed to rival glory ahead of the forthcoming 16th edition of Tour du Rwanda slated for February 18-25.
The French coach has been putting his team through their paces since the Christmas holidays in December 2023 until he named his final roster on Wednesday, February 14, just four days before the Tour du Rwanda 2024 kickoff.
Former BikeAid rider Eric Muhoza will be leading the five-man roster which also includes Eric Manizabayo, Didier Munyaneza, Samuel Niyonkuru and Vainqueur Masengesho.
With the group that he has at his disposal, Louvet told Times Sport that his team can defy the odds and raise the country’s flag higher with a dominant showing in this year’s UCI 2.1 cycling event.
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"There are very big teams coming for Tour du Rwanda. I think that, with my Rwandan team, even with the Rwandan UCI continental teams, we can do well on the stages,” Louvet told Times Sport in an interview.
"I am confident that they can rival other teams for....we are talking about the yellow jersey, especially that they had won it before. What I have seen shows that we are up there, it shows that the public and Rwandans should have confidence in their team,” the coach added.
After two months in a training camp at the Africa Rising Cycling Center (ARCC) in Musanze District, Northern Province, Team Rwanda shifted to Bugesera where they will stay until Tour du Rwanda kicks off on Sunday.
"The preparations are done; we have been doing sessions of preparing the team. They [riders] are a little bit tired but it is normal, we are going to stay in Bugesera for the organization du technical and tactical." Louvet said.
"The training was good; we are going to see what we can do in Tour du Rwanda. We have the best national team which will; challenge in the race, physically, riders are very good while mentally are prepared so we are going to give our best.”
Louvet started coaching the national teams, men and women, since his appointment in 2023. Tour du Rwanda will be his first major test and it could mark the beginning of the business of the Frenchman who was tasked to prepare the team for the 2025 UCI Road World Championship that Kigali will host in September 2025.
"I am here to build a strong team that can challenge in Tour du Rwanda and the future of Rwanda, the competition is big and we know that so it will be tough because the big teams are coming for the tournament but we will be ready for the race. No pressure for us what we want is to show that we are here for the race and show what we are capable of” Louvet noted
Rwandans had dominated Tour du Rwanda until the race was sanctioned to 2.1 on UCI tour when their performances started to drop considering the level of the competition.
Moise Mugisha, now riding for Java Inovotec, is the only Rwandan rider to have won a stage in the race’s last three editions.
The Tour du Rwanda 2024 peloton comprises 20 teams including three from host nation Rwanda namely the national team (Team Rwanda), May Stars and Java Inovotec.