Six Rwandan riders are in Louvain, Belgium, where they are expected to represent the country at the much anticipated 2021 UCI Road World Championship slated from September 19-26. All the six riders have been undergoing intensive training sessions in France for the past few weeks before heading to Belgium ahead for World’s biggest competition. Duo Renus Byiza Uhiriwe and Jean Eric Habimana will compete in the U-23 category while Diane Ingabire and Valentine Nzayisenga will compete in the women Elite category. Meanwhile, Etienne Tuyizere and Samuel Niyonkuru will represent Rwanda in the mens junior category at the tournament. Abdallah Murenzi, the President of Rwanda Cycling Federation (FERWACY), told Times Sport that the riders were getting high standard training at a French Professional Cycling training Centre to prepare Rwandan riders and help them perform at the highest level prior to the tournament. “Because we have not had cycling competitions recently which would help our riders to prepare for the World Road Championship nor would they get trained in the country as high as they were doing in France, our partners offered our team to participate in competitions and training sessions in France so that they could get high standard trainings to prepare well for this global competition,” Murenzi told Times Sport in an interview. Murenzi will be among attendees at the tournament in Belgium as he awaits who, between Rwanda and Morocco, will win the bid to host the 2025 edition of the Road World Championship during the official announcement slated for September 24. After the tournament in Belgium, Murenzi said, the riders will return to France to continue their training session in early preparations for the 2022 Tour du Rwanda whose dates are yet to be communicated. Participants will compete in Individual Time Trial (ITT), Team Time Trial (TTT) and Road Race, with the tournament scheduled to open on Monday with Individual Time Trial for both U-23 Men and Women Elite categories. Samuel Mugisha, who now plies his trade in French cycling team LMP – La Roche-sur-Yon, was Rwanda’s sole representative at the 2020 Road World Championships held in Italy last year after Rwanda’s six riders, who were initially due to compete at the tournament, were denied to travel to Italy due to visa restrictions in the European Schengen Area due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
