2017 StagesMarch 11: Stage 1 – Yaoundé › Bafia (121km)March 12: Stage 2 – Bafoussam › Bafoussam (101km)March 13: Stage 3 – Mbanga › Limbé (101km)March 14: Stage 4 – Limbé › Kumba (98km)March 15: Stage 5 – Douala › Douala (108km)March 16: Stage 6 – Douala › Kribi (157km)

March 17: Rest dayMarch 18: Stage 7 – Boumnyebel › Mbalmayo (119km)March 19: Stage 8 – Ebolowa › Yaoundé (151.7km)

Team Rwanda riders will begin the hunt for medals at the 8th edition of Tour of Cameroon, which gets underway today through March 19.

The team, comprising of six riders and accompanied by national team assistant coach Felix Sempoma, touched down in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundéon Thursday evening.

"We arrived safely and the riders are in good condition and only waiting to start the race on Saturday, our goal is to win the competition.  We have won some stages here before and most of our riders have also won international competitions before, so it’s not as if we’re going into the unknown,” said Sempoma.

Team Rwanda’s charge will be led by the country’s most decorated rider and the reigning Tour du Rwanda champion Valens Ndayisenga, who will nonetheless be making his debut at the eight-day  956.7km race.

Also on the roaster is Jean Bosco Nsengiyumva, winner of Tour du Rwanda in 2015, and the 2016 African Continental Championships U-23 silver medalist, Jean Claude Uwizeye.  

Others are; former Dimension Data for Qhubeka (South Africa) rider Bonaventure Uwizeyimana and Rene Jean Paul Ukiniwabo, who are both fresh from competing at this year’s Gabon’s La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, as well as Ephrem Tuyishimire.

On day one, the riders will compete in stage one, a 121-kilometre distance that will start from Yaoundé to Bafia in the north of the country.

During last year’s Tour of Cameroon edition, Team Rwanda finished in the third place, behind Morocco and Dukla Banska Bystrica of Slovakia. Errafai Mohamed of Morocco is the defending champion.

The best performance from our local riders at this particular competition thus far was winning bronze medals courtesy of Camera Hakuzimana (2016) and Emile Bintunimana (2015).

editorial@newtimes.co.rw