Today

Team time trial

3 laps of 12.5km (37.5km)Team Rwanda launch their search for medals today in the men’s team time trial at the ongoing All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville.

Sprint master Janvier Hadi, reigning Tour du Rwanda winner Valens Ndayisenga, Joseph Aleluya and Jean Bosco Nsengimana make up the team that will lead Rwanda’s charge for continental glory but they face tough opposition from traditional powerhouses South Africa, Algeria and Eritrea.

"Our target is to win medals here at the All Africa Games. We have a good team that has been performing well back home and on the international scene as well,” said the optimistic Felix Sempoma, coach of the national side.

Ndayisenga has been training at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland since April and returned home to compete in the national championships, retaining the men’s elite individual time trial title that he has won for the past three years.

His experience from the Alps is expected to make it count for the quartet that has to work as a team to poise a challenge against other top riders from across the continent.

Captain Hadi, who boasts top honours in the individual time trial and several prologue stages including two Tour du Rwanda wins (2013 & 2014) as well as a bronze medal at the Africa cycling continental championships in Egypt in 2013 in the U-23 category, will be looking to replicate that performance today.

Notably, his leadership qualities are expected to inspire on his teammates in the race against time on a flat course that is expected to be windy, completely different from the undulating hills of Rwanda that they are accustomed to (in the Northern and Western Provinces where they do most of their training sessions).

Attention to consistency and riding in unison is key but, more importantly, today’s success will also depend on Sempoma’s rider order to maximise their output without triggering a gap between them.

With the impressive duo of Aleluya and Nsengimana in the side, Sempoma has a hungry lot of young riders that will stop at nothing to return home with medals.

Aleluya, Nsengimana and Hadi just returned from the Tour of Rio where they captured opponents and organisers’ attention with their performance and, with this confidence, today provides another chance to pull of a podium finish.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw