Apart from Valens Ndayisenga (2014) and Jean Bosco Nsengimana (2015), the other previous Tour du Rwanda winners have never returned to compete in the UCI- Africa Tour race. 

Tour du Rwanda is a 2.2 road race cycling event created in 1988. The event is a stage race organised by the Rwanda Cycling Federation (FERWACY). It has been part of the UCI Africa Tour since 2009.

Ahead of this year’s eighth edition, which starts on Sunday and ends on November 20, Saturday Sport traces the whereabouts of the winners of the previous seven editions:

2009: Adil Jelloul (Morocco national team)

The experienced Adil Jelloul won the first Tour du Rwanda after the competition was incorporated into the UCI Africa Tour calendar. Jelloul, born on July 14, 1982, was at the time riding for the Morocco national team, and won with a comfortable lead. 

He went on to compete in the men’s road race at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Jelloul currently rides for Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team–Al Ahli Club (CT).

2010: Daniel Teklehaymanot (Eritrea national team)

In 2010, Eritrea national team rider Daniel Teklehaymanot won the second edition of Tour du Rwanda. Teklehaymanot is a professional road race cyclist. He competes for South Africa-based Team Dimension Data (formerly MTN-Qhubeka).

Before winning Tour du Rwanda, he was riding for Amore & Vita-McDonald’s (Stagiaire) and later that year, he joined Switzerland-based Cervélo Test Team before riding for Green EDGE of Australia.

Still in 2010, he won Rwanda’s Kwita Izina Cycling Tour. He participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London becoming the first Eritrean to compete in a sport other than athletics. He finished the road race in the 73rd position.

In 2012, he became the first Eritrean to ride in La Vuelta, one of the 3 Grand Tours; he finished the race 146th overall.

He was named in the start list for the 2015 Tour de France alongside team-mate and compatriot Merhawi Kudus, becoming the first black African to start the Tour when he was the first of the riders to start the race’s opening time trial.

2011: Kiel Reijnen (Team Type 1–Sanofi, USA)

American Kiel Reijnen won Tour du Rwanda in 2011. Reijnen, born on June 1, 1986, is an American cyclist riding for Continental team United Health Care. At that time he managed to win Prologue (ITT), Stages 1, 2 and 4.

Other races he won include Philly Cycling Classic, Bucks County Classic and stage four in Tour of the Gila in 2013. In 2014, he won Philly Cycling Classic, Clarendon Cup and Crystal Cup.

Competing as an amateur, he attended the University of Colorado Boulder and obtained a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Now he rides for Trek-Segafredo of Luxembourg.

2012: Darren Lill (South Africa national team)

Darren Lill won the 2012 Tour du Rwanda. Before joining Team Bonitas in 2012. He featured in Fly V Australia Pro Cycling Team in 2010.

A year earlier, he was riding for Team Type 1. In 2008, the South African raced for BMC Racing Team, while in 2007, he was in Navigators Insurance Cycling Team (PCT), which he joined from Barloworld where he was from 2005.

Darren, born August 20, 1982, is a South African professional racing cyclist. In 2011 he won the South African National Road Race Championships. He currently rides for USN-Purefit (South Africa). 2013: Dylan Girdlestone (South Africa national team)

In 2013, the fifth edition of Tour du Rwanda was claimed by Dylan Girdlestone. Girdlestone is a South African professional racing cyclist born on October 11, 1989. He won the race riding for South Africa national team.

After winning Tour du Rwanda, he joined Drapac Pro Cycling, and one year later, he joined Team Garmin Sharp.

Before winning Tour du Rwanda, Girdlestone was riding for Team MTN Qhubeka (CT) in 2011 whom he had joined from MTN Energade Road Team. In 2014, he rode for Garmin–Sharp (Stagiaire) before joining Drapac Professional Cycling, last year. 2014: Valens Ndayisenga (Team Rwanda – Karisimbi)

History was made in 2014 when Valens Ndayisenga became the first Rwandan to win Tour du Rwanda since it became a UCI Africa Tour race. He was riding for Team Rwanda-Karisimbi, one of the three national teams that partook in the competition.

Ndayisenga is currently riding for South Africa-based UCI Continental Team Dimension Data For Qhubeka and will race for them in this year’s Tour du Rwanda.

Ndayisenga is the 2014 National Road Race champion. He represented Rwanda at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, in the Individual Time Trial, finishing in 23rd place. He also finished 8th during stage 4 of the 2014 La Tropicale Amissa Bongo.

He became the youngster rider to win one of longest and toughest stages during the 2013 Tour du Rwanda (from Rwamagana to Musanze –153km) after clocking 4 hours, one minute and 11 seconds.

Ndayisenga, born on January 1, 1994 in Muhazi-Rwamagana, won the 8km prologue stage on in Tour of Egypt in Hurghada, a town on the coast of the Red Sea, in 2015.

2015: Jean Bosco Nsengimana (Team Rwanda-Karisimbi)

The defending champion won the Prologue of last year’s Tour du Rwanda and then the 3rd and 6th stages on his way to winning the annual race. In 2014, the Rwandan finished second in Tour du Rwanda as well as the national championship.

This year, Nsengimama won the fifth stage of the Tour du Cameroon, and finished in the fourth place in Grand Prix Chantal Biya.

Nsengimana, born November, 4, 1993, is now a member of the Germany-based UCI Continental Team Stradalli Bike-Aid, and will be looking to replicate the same form that saw him win the competition last year when this year’s edition gets underway tomorrow.

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