Usher Komugisha A nation united and cheered on Team Rwanda Cycling (TRC) during the just concluded Tour du Rwanda like their lives depended on it. They stood by the roadsides, waved, clapped and had to endure the rain sometimes. The feeling of cheering for the three Rwandan sides – Karisimbi, Akagera and Muhabura that produced positive results day in, day out alongside displaying remarkable performances had a nation rethink of the image they had on cycling in Rwanda. Young and talented Rwandan riders endured the gruelling 911.6km in eight days across a country known as the ‘Land of a thousand hills’ to fly the Rwandan flag high in front of their own fans to end a five-year jinx. A culmination of eight years of hard work saw Valens Ndayisenga rewrite history when he became the first Rwandan to win the prestigious Tour du Rwanda for the first time since it was inducted on the International Cycling Union (UCI) calendar in 2009. At the tender age of 20, Ndayisenga has proved to the world that Rwandan cycling is on the rise and that this is just the beginning of future domination on the African continent and beyond. Fending off competition from riders from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Germany, Morocco, Switzerland and South Africa is an encouragement that the future is bright. In Jonathan ‘Jock’ Boyer and his wife Kimberly Coats, Rwandans can expect good organization, hard work, patience, commitment and positive results from a couple that has dedicated their lives to making the Rwandan story a success. They have done it since 2007. Unaffected by the naturalized-player syndrome, TRC can be credited for having a keen eye for young talent and actually giving them a chance to flourish at national, regional, continental and international competitions. The Africa Rising Cycling Centre in Musanze provides a conducive platform for the riders to get state-of-the-art facilities and the best technical knowledge from Boyer who boasts of decades of cycling knowledge and experience. After the recent disqualification from the Africa Cup of Nations group stage qualifiers, many Rwandans gave up on sport in this country but Ndayisenga’s victory yesterday has reinstated hope that they can rely on TRC for continental and international success. On the continent, Bonaventure Uwizeyimana won stage three of the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon this year and most notably he alongside Ndayisenga and Jean Bosco Nsengiyumva became the first Rwandans to compete at the UCI U-23 World Championships this year in Ponferrada, Spain. Prior to this, Ndayisenga and Nsengiyumva’s performances at the 2013 Tour of Rwanda earned them scholarships to train at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland while Uwizeyimana trained with team Vendée U, feeder side of Team Europcar in France. Another young rider Janvier Hadi was invited as a guest rider at this year’s Tour of Alberta to join Team Garneau-Quebecor, one of TRC’s sponsors and it is this global recognition that has sparked off a string of positive results. Patrick Byukusenge also got an opportunity to train at the Africa Continental Centre in South Africa and with Adrien Niyonshuti still riding for MTN Qhubeka, it is safe to say that the lads’ dream of eyeing participation at the Tour de France is a realistic one.
