Rwanda’s U23 cyclist Joseph Areruya has climbed to second-place in Africa in the latest International Cycling Union (UCI) rankings released on Sunday at the Cycling headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland.
Top five Individual Men elite UCI Africa Tour Rankings
- Willem Jakobus Smit (South Africa) 280 points
- Joseph Areruya (Rwanda) 270 points
- Ahmed Amine Galdoune (Morocco) 269 points
- Adil Barbari (Algeria) 259 points
- Abderrahmane Mansouri (Algeria) 258 points
Top five teams
- Dimension Data for Qhubeka (South Africa) 603 points
- VIB Bikes (Bahrain) 317 points
- Bike Aid (Germany) 228 points
- Bardiani CSF (Italy) 212 points
- Torku Sekerspor (Turkey) 196 points
Top five nations
- Morocco 1366.5 points
- Eritrea 1342 points
- Algeria 1137 points
- South Africa 731 points
- Rwanda 615 points
Rwanda’s U23 cyclist Joseph Areruya has climbed to second-place in Africa in the latest International Cycling Union (UCI) rankings released on Sunday at the Cycling headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland.
This development comes shortly after the 21-year old outstanding performance at the just concluded 2017 African Continental Championships that were held in Luxor, Egypt.
Areruya who was making his second appearance at the annual continental showpiece surprised many and suddenly rose to more fame after bagging three bronze medals from the Team Time Trial, Individual Time Trial and U23 road race.
His trophy haul in Egypt equaled the total number of medals that the national team ‘Team Rwanda’ collected from the competition after fielding six riders (five male and one female).
This achievement has immediately borne him fruits with a significant move from 11th place to second place in the UCI individual elite men Africa Tour Rankings with a total of 270 points.
This is the best ever ranking for a Rwandan rider after retired Janvier Hadi’s record in December, 2015 who became the first Rwandan rider to make it into the top ten where he was tenth with 144.33 points.
The South African Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka rider Areruya is just ten points behind Willem Jakobus Smit who tops this list with 280 points while in third place comes Ahmed Amine Galdoune from morocco with 269 points.
Algerian duo of Adil Barbari and Abderrahmane Mansouri occupy fourth and fifth places with 259 and 258 points respectively.
The other Rwandan rider who has improved in these rankings is reigning Tour du Rwanda champion Valens Ndayisenga who has moved from 31st to 24th place with 106 points while his compatriot Jean Claude Uwizeye has declined from 22nd place to 45th position.
In the UCI team rankings, Areruya’s Dimension Data comfortably tops this list with 603 points where they are followed by VIB Bikes from Behrain with 317 points while Germany’s Bike Aid are third with 228 points with Bardiani CSF from Italy (212 points) and Torku Sekerspor from Turkey (196 points) in the fourth and fifth places respectively.
Meanwhile Rwanda has remained unmoved in the fifth place with 615 points in the nation’s rankings are topped by Morocco with 1366.5 points replacing Eritrea in the second place with 1342 points while Algeria (1137 points) and South Africa (731 points) have retained the third and fourth places respectively.