RWANDA international Didier Munyaneza has asserted that his stunning victory on Sunday in this year’s national road race championship was largely inspired by the desire to debut at the forthcoming 2018 Tour de l’Avenir as the national champion.

The 20-year-old Club Benediction rider made the remarks on Sunday following awe-inspiring performance that saw him defying all odds to become the youngest cyclist (20 years and 174 days) to hold the national champion title.

He out-paced some of the country’s senior and more experienced riders such as the reigning Tour du Rwanda champion Joseph Areruya, the reigning Tour du Cameroun champion Bonaventure Uwizeyimana and last year’s winner Gasore Hategeka, to name but a few,

The cycling sensation claimed the 150km race in 3 hours, 55 minutes and 12 seconds, two seconds ahead of Cycling Club for All (CCA) rider Mathieu Twizerane.

Following Sunday’s emphatic triumph, Munyaneza revealed he came in race well aware how gruesome it would be but had set a target for himself to carry the country’s flag at the prestigious Tour de l’Avenir in France as a national champion.

"What kept me fighting and racing hard for this title is because we (Team Rwanda) have a ticket to compete at this year’s Tour de l’Avenir in France and I wanted to go wearing the national champion jersey, not just in U23 category but as overall champion,” the youngster revealed to Times Sport in an exclusive interview.

He further added that, "The team (Club Benediction) helped me a lot, it was not an easy win against some of the riders I have utter respect for. I relied on teamwork most of the time until I decided to field a strong attack in the penultimate lap, and thankfully it worked out for me.”

The national U23 cycling team, U23 Team Rwanda, is set to become the first African national team to race Tour de l’Avenir, a prestigious cycling event regarded as the junior version of the famous Tour de France. The race is scheduled for August 17-26 in France.

Tour de l’Avenir (Tour of the Future) is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961 as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independents.

Felice Gimondi, Joop Zoetemelk, Greg LeMond, Miguel Indurain and Laurent Fignon won the Tour de l’Avenir and went on to win 12 Tours de France between them.

Since 2007, it is designed for riders 23 or younger and has been a national team competition.

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