Rwanda Cycling Federation (FERWACY) president, Aimable Bayingana has attributed the successful completion of the 2016 Tour du Rwanda to the outstanding support and love that Rwandans have shown to cycling, a fast growing sport in the country.

Tour du Rwanda is a 2.2 UCI category road race that attracts riders from different continents competing for club and national teams, and was incorporated by UCI Africa Tour in 2009.

The just concluded 8th edition caught the attention of the cycling world over the seven stages and a prologue not because of the stars it attracted, but because of the road-side crowd of fans that turned up to cheer and support.

Unlike the recent Road World Championships in Qatar, the Tour du Rwanda attracted huge crowds; hundreds of thousands of fans enjoying good, hard bike racing while chanting names of their homegrown stars.

At the end of it all, it paid off; for the third time in a row, Rwandans stayed masters of their own race with Valens Ndayisenga, who rides for South Africa’s UCI Team Dimension Data, winning the title and becoming the first rider to claim the international race more than once after his win in 2014.

FERWACY president Baingana credited the huge success of the event to what he described as "extra-ordinary support by the locals along the routes.”

"Tour du Rwanda has shown us that Rwandans like entertainment, but more especially cycling. To attract such huge crowds, thousands of people lining up the routes to watch the competition means that the sport of cycling has really taken to a whole new level,” said Bayingana.

The 2016 Tour du Rwanda attracted a total of 15 teams that included six national teams namely; Cameroon, South Africa, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Algeria and Rwanda.

There were also four UCI continental teams, including Dimension Data for Qhubeka (South-Africa), Kenyan Riders Downunder (Kenya), Cycling Academy Team (Israel), and Stradalli-Bike Aid (Germany).

In addition, five other clubs that included Rwanda’s Les Amis Sportif de Rwamagana and Benediction Club (Rubavu) as well as Team Lowest rates.Com (Canada), Team Haute-Savoie Rhone-Alpes (France) and Team Furniture Decarte (Switzerland) took part. The event attracted a total of 74 riders, the second largest participation after the 2010 edition that had 95 riders.

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