The national cycling body (FERWACY) has announced that team Rwanda riders will start training on March, 15 ahead of the much-anticipated 13th edition of Tour du Rwanda which is slated to run from May 2-9. The event was postponed from February to May by Rwanda’s cycling governing body following a spike in Covid-19 infections during the festive season. Abdallah Murenzi, the president of the Rwanda Cycling Federation said they want to start preparations for the Tour du Rwanda as soon as possible to give the national team riders ample time to prepare adequately. The 8-stages race, which is one of the most prestigious cycling events on the continent was sanctioned by UCI as a 2.2 category race in 2009, and was upgraded to 2.1 in 2019. Fifteen teams have been selected from great cycling nations of the African continent but also from around the world, including teams used to the most prestigious events on the international calendar such as the Tour de France. No Rwandan rider has won the competition since it was upgraded to the UCI 2.1 category in 2019. Eritreans Merhawi Kudus and Natnael Tesfazion have won the race over the past two years, with the latter winning the competition ahead of Moise Mugisha. Meanwhile, on Monday evening, Minister of Sports, Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju hosted the national cycling team and thanked them for winning 14 medals at the just concluded African Championships in Egypt. The Rwandan team which returned to Kigali on Sunday won one gold medal, eight silver medals, five bronze medals in the junior, men, and women categories respectively. 2021 Tour du Rwanda teams Israel Start-Up Nation (Israel) Total-Direct Energie (France) B&B Hotels (France) Team Novo Nordisk (USA) Androni-Giocatolli (Italy) Benediction Cycling Team (Rwanda) Skol Adrien Cycling Academy (Rwanda) Pro Touch Team (South Africa) Bike Aid (Germany) Vino Astana Motors (Kazakhstan) Team Medellin (Colombia) TSG Terengganu (Malaysia) Rwanda National Team Algeria National Team Ethiopia National Team
