Rwanda’s cycling governing body (Ferwacy) has introduced a Youth Racing Cup, a new project through which the federation seeks to streamline talent development from grassroots.

The first edition will take place on Sunday, June 16, at the Field of Dreams in Bugesera district and will see young riders competing in three categories namely under-15, under-17 and under-19.

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A similar youth race cup was organized in April and again a special category for youth was included in the Kivu Belt Race in June as the federation was making trials to examine the feasibility of youth races before they finally came up with a decision to introduce it and add it on the national cycling calendar as a cycling race on its own.

"We organized such youth races before as a pilot phase and it showed us good results. We now want to have a unique calendar for youth competitions because it will help us to evaluate their progress,” said Ferwacy president Abdallah Murenzi.

"We hope this race will help us to make a constant follow up on young talents. We will start it at the field of dreams and we will take it to other parts of the country in the near future. The best performers will be ranked by points and overall winners will be awarded at the end of the year,” he added

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Simon Huppertz, the newly-appointed FERWACY Technical Advisor, will lead the project which is expected to attract more than 4,000 young cyclists by 2025.

It is a new project from which Huppertz hopes Rwanda can produce new cycling stars who can bring the country back to the top-ranked on the African continent.

"We want this Youth Race Cup to be the entry door for young Rwandan cyclists to join the sport because our mission, as the federation, is to develop and we know that talent development starts at young ages. Where there is no competition, there is no motivation, that's why we organized this race,” he said.

It has been highlighted that most Rwandan riders start their cycling career at 17 or 18 years of age where they lack some important cycling skills which are normally acquired some five or six years younger.

The race will start with young cyclists aged between 15 and 18 years of age but Huppertz that they intend to involve even kids aged as young as 12 to ensure that development takes shape at such a very young age.

"Our mission is to reduce the age entry from 16 to 12 because that’s where we have large chances to develop top future cyclists who will be on the level to compete in bigger races like Tour de France,” he said.