Team Rwanda riders are determined to do well in this year’s Algeria International Cycling Tour, which got underway yesterday and will run through March 29. The tour consists of nine races.

The six-man team includes; Rwanda’s national champion Gasore Hategeka (26), Joseph Biziyaremye (25), Valens Ndayisenga (19), Emile Bintunimana (22), Jean Bosco Nsengiyumva (22) and Jeremie Karegeya (21).

The Tour started on Saturday with the Critérium International d’Alger, the second race will be the Tour d’Algérie set to run from March 9-13: then the Grand Prix d’Oran on March 14.

From March 16-18, it will be the Tour International de Blida and the fourth race will be Tour International de Sétif from March 19-21.

The Critérium International de Sétif, the sixth race on the tour will be held on March 22 and from March 24-27; it will be the Tour International de Constantine.

The last two races; Circuit International d’Alger and Critérium International de Blida will be held on March 28th and 29th respectively.

Before the team’s departure early this week, Sunday Sport talked to some of the riders and they expressed confidence and optimism ahead of the event.

National champion, Hategeka said, "We will give our best in these competitions because each one of us wants to finish in a good position in every race.”

"We’re all motivated to do well not only for our country but also for our own careers. This is an international competition which attracts some of the best riders from different country in African and beyond, so it’s a good test for our ability to compete against top riders,” he noted. 

The promising youngster Valens Ndayisenga, fresh from winning the Farms Circuit race two weeks ago, said, "It’s going to be a tough competition because it has top good riders from across world, but the coach has urged us to be positive.” 

"We need to give our best in this competition, and I am quite positive that we will do a good job because we have been doing well in previous competitions,” added the 19-year old.

Team Rwanda’s American head coach Jonathan Boyer also expressed his optimism ahead of the nine races.

"We’re taking a team which has been doing well from last year and in the first few races this year. We are confident of doing well against top class riders,” Boyer noted.

Other countries expected to take part include; Holland, Germany, France, England, Denmark, Eritrea, Morocco and hosts Algeria. 

It’s the second continental tour that Rwandan riders have taken part this year, following the UCU Africa Tour season opener, La Tropicale Amissa Bongo tour in Gabon in early January.