The 16th edition of the Tour du Rwanda is finally here! Just a small change is the last-minute withdrawal of Dutch professional cycling team Team dsm–firmenich PostNL from the peloton.
The race gets underway Sunday, February 18, with four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome once again in the spotlight. After discovering the roads of the Land of a Thousand Hills in 2023, Froome is back this year to aim for a final victory.
Seven other riders who have also had the honour of competing in the world's greatest race will be taking part in this Rwandan week, which confirms that the Tour du Rwanda has become a benchmark not only on the African continent but also on a global scale.
ALSO READ: Tour du Rwanda 2024 dates announced
It is no coincidence that the first world championships in the history of cycling to be held on the African continent will take place in Kigali in 2025.
In fact, the riders will be taking part in some of the World Championship circuits, including Sunday’s first stage (a team time trial) and the final stage (KCC-KCC).
In keeping with tradition, the peloton will cross the mountainous roads that are the stuff of Rwandan legend, with riders from all four corners of the globe, starting with the Africans, led by the riders from Eritrea, the land of cycling, led by the former winner Merhawi Kudus, and the Rwandans, who want to shine in front of their ever-popular and enthusiastic fans on the roads.
ALSO READ: Nsengimana dropped from Java Inovotec roster for Tour du Rwanda 2024
With a year and a half to go to the World Championships, the World Tour teams Soudal-QuickStep, already present in 2023, Groupama-FDJ, UAE Team Emirates and Lotto-Dstny have sent their development teams to enable their young hopefuls to get used to the big events.
Several ProTeams will also be at the start, including TotalEnergies with Pierre Latour, Israel-Premier Tech with Chris Froome, Bingoal WB with Lennert Teugels and Polti-Kometa with Jhonatan Restrepo.
Home grown talents like Team Rwanda’s Eric Muhoza, Samuel Niyonkuru, Eric Manizabayo and former Tour du Rwanda winner Joseph Hareruya are also looking forward to ending the 2.1 race jinx considering that no Rwandan has won Tour du Rwanda since it was sanctioned to 2.1 in 2019.
Muhoza, then with German team BikeAid, had displayed an unmatched performance during tour du Rwanda 2023 after finishing five stages with seconds behind leader but later failed to finish among top five.
His ultimate target this year? Winning at least a stage... stage 3 to be precise.
"Everyone is very excited and committed to doing well this year and no pressure is on us to win the race. I can't say we are not competing for the top positions, we are here to improve from last year,” Muhoza said.
"The competition is tough but year after year we are getting better and I believe we can achieve something this year."
The route will take the riders across the whole country, passing along the shores of Lake Kivu, the Gorilla Park and the Akagera Park, over 740 kilometres in eight stages.
ALSO READ: Riders to watch at Tour du Rwanda 2024
A total of 195 riders from 19 teams across the world will start the journey of a week race of the Tour du Rwanda.
The race is one of Africa’s most celebrated cycling events. Its route is across the length and breadth of the visually stunning country of 1000 hills.
Each year, riders around the world are challenging the Rwandan riders on their land.
The race allows African riders to highlight in the context of a passage in professional and well run in the top professional teams in the world’s elite.
This year, organizers of Tour du Rwanda have planned short kilometers of roads so that the race will be fast and finish early.
Two of the eight stages will in fact be run on the World Championship circuits.
READ ALSO: Four new teams added to Tour du Rwanda 2024 lineup
They included the time trial which will offer a unique Grand Départ with a team time trial around the Kigali Convention Centre and the final stage which will already give an overview of the difficulties that await cyclists around the world in close to 20 months’ time.
The routes for this 2024 edition will consist, like in previous editions, of long climbs during most of the stages with, for the first time, in the middle of the week, a 13-kilometer individual time trial on the heights of Musanze.
In addition, the legendary passage to the summit of Mount Kigali is arguably one of the most challenging routes which will certainly make Tour of Rwanda 2024 the most difficult event.
Overall, cyclist will cover a distance of 740km in total to determine winner of Tour du Rwanda 2024 while the Rukomo (Gicumbi)-Kayonza route is the longest stage of the race with 163km.
The stages
Stage 1: BK Arena –KCC Roundabout (Team Time Trial: 18km)
Stage 2: Muhanga-Kibeho: 130km
Stage 3: Huye-Rusizi (141km)
Stage 4: Karongi- Rubavu: 92km
Stage 5: Musanze- Kinigi (Individual Time Trial: 13km)
Stage 6: Musanze-Mont Kigali (93km)
Stage 7: Rukomo(Gicumbi)- Kayonza (163km)
Stage 8: KCC-KCC (90km).