Team Rwanda will leave a mark in Gabon–Ndayisenga

TEAM Rwanda’s 19-year-old Valens Ndayisenga is roaring to go in the 2014 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo International Cycling Tour, which gets underway today in Gabon. Ndayisenga, the youngest member in the six-man team taking part in the opening race of the UCI-Africa Tour, is confident and believes Team Rwanda will put up a better show than in the previous editions. The tour ends on January 19.

Monday, January 13, 2014
Ndayisenga took the award for the most promising rider of the 2013 Tour of Rwanda. Times Sport / Courtesy

TEAM Rwanda’s 19-year-old Valens Ndayisenga is roaring to go in the 2014 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo International Cycling Tour, which gets underway today in Gabon. Ndayisenga, the youngest member in the six-man team taking part in the opening race of the UCI-Africa Tour, is confident and believes Team Rwanda will put up a better show than in the previous editions. The tour ends on January 19."The plan is to stay focused for the whole race. We are in good position and we’re confident that we can do better because we have a good team, so we just need to be ready mentally and physically,” the youngster told Times Sport before the team’s departure on Satur day.The other team members include; Rwanda’s national champion Gasore Hategeka (26-years old), Joseph Biziyaremye (25), South Africa-based Janvier Hadi (22), Jean Bosco Nsengiyumva (22) and Bonaventure Uwizeyinama (21).Ndayisenga added, "There is a big variation between the Tour of Rwanda and the Amissa Bongo Tour in terms of temperature and scenery. In Gabon, the conditions are relatively humid over the course of the tour and the landscape is a plateau-flat terrain. We have been training under such conditions in the camp. Hopefully, we shall perform better compared to last year given the exposure and experience we obtained from different continental competitions ever since,” he noted.  Most promising riderNdayisenga took the award (brand new bike) for the most promising rider after finishing in a respectable 11th position overall with a time of 20h43’11’’ in the 2013 Tour of Rwanda. The 19-year-old made history by becoming the youngest Rwandan to win a stage in the Tour of Rwanda when he took stage two, the most grueling stage (151.9km) on this year’s tour, Rwamagana-Musanze.