Rwanda Cycling Federation (Ferwacy) president Abdallah Murenzi is positive that Rwandan riders have who it takes to excel at the 16th edition Tour du Rwanda slated for February 19-26. The likes of Valens Ndayisenga (2014 and 2016), Jean Bosco Nsengimana (in 2015), Joseph Areruya (in 2017) and Samuel Mugisha (in 2018) managed to win the Yellow Jersey for Rwanda. However, Rwandan riders had a relatively poor performance at the prestigious race since the race was sanctioned to 2.1 in 2019. Only Moise Mugisha managed stage during the 2022 edition. Many of them blamed recent failures to limited competitions that would help them prepare for Tour du Rwanda’s big stage which has over the past few years been dominated by foreign riders. Ferwacy had to make a reaction on the issue thanks to which the riders had a very busy calendar in 2022 after the federation organized so many races for them to up their tempo and level of performance. Reflecting on the races, Murenzi hailed riders for their increased professionalism when competing in local competitions and believes they have accumulated more experience before cautioning the Rwandan team not to repeat previous mistakes if they are to impress at Tour du Rwanda 2023. The riders had a chance to compete at the Rwanda Cycling Cup which toured different parts of the country, La Tropicale Amissa Bongo and Africa Championship before the Tour du Rwanda. It will be a good opportunity and experience for our riders to raise their levels because to have good practices without races could not have been any helpful, Murenzi told Times Sport. “In the past two years, our riders had a challenge of not having as many competitions as they could. Now that they had enough competitions, we are confident of victory this time around because they have been training hard besides taking part at many competitions which have undoubtedly helped them to raise their level,” he added Tour du Rwanda is an annual UCI competition ranked 2.1 in the UCI Africa Tour series. The 16th edition will attract 20 teams from different parts of the world. Rwanda will have two representatives namely the national cycling team ‘Team Rwanda’ and May Stars which was added on Tuesday, February 7, replacing Benediction Kitei Pro 2020 who pulled out after failing to secure the UCI license as a continental team. Riders have increased their competition level tremendously and they are more experienced. I would not be wrong to say that we have a good chance of doing well in the Tour du Rwanda,” he explained. Every year, a total of $51,000 (about Rwf51 million) is given out to winners in stage and general classifications. The overall Yellow Jersey winner takes home $4,000, while a stage winner receives $1,400.
