Rider Jean Eric Habimana is part of Swiss-based World Cycling Centre’s roster that will participate at the forthcoming 47th edition of Tour de l’Espoir slated for August 13-22 in France. The African Continental Road Championships 2021 bronze medalist becomes the seventh Rwandan rider to participate in the world’s top-rated U23, after Samuel Mugisha, Joseph Areruya Didier Munyaneza, Samuel Hakim Uwizeye, Eric Manizabayo, and Jean Paul Rene Ukiniwabo who participated at the competition in 2018 playing for Team Rwanda U-23. He now looks forward to making his mark at the tournament under a different jersey as he prepares for the race on an invitation from the Swiss team. The nine-stage tournament, which had to be cancelled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, will take place on a route that follows the main lines of the one planned last year. Regarded as a benchmark event and a revelation of new talent, the return of the event is essential for the age group of international hopefuls wishing to prove themselves in order to reach the ranks of competing at bigger international stages in the future. A total of 174 riders from 29 teams will make up the peloton, starting from Charleville-Mézières on August 13th. Habimana, who failed to impress at Tour du Rwanda 2021 with Skol Adrien Cycling Academy (SACA), will be expected to improve his performance and boost his chances of attracting attention from international teams as he looks to build a professional career. The 20-year-old rider rose to fame in 2017 when he won six medals at the 2017 African Continental Track Championships in Durban, South Africa while riding for Skol Brewery-sponsored Fly Cycling Club, now rebranded SACA. Two years later, he won bronze medals with junior Team Rwanda – in Team Time Trial – at the 2019 African Continental Road Championships in Ethiopia.
