Saturday
Race for culture
Junior men & women
Muhanga – Rwamagana (114km)
Men’s elite & U23 category
Nyanza – Rwamagana (157km)
NYABIHU Cycling Club rider Gasore Hategeka looks well placed to win this year’s Rwanda Cycling Cup title as the year-long championship enters the penultimate ‘Race for Culture’ on Saturday.
The 31-year old leads the standings with 119 points, 12 ahead of Benediction Club’s Patrick Byukusenge and a further six points ahead of youngster Didier Munyaneza.
Kivu Race winner Eric Manizabayo, a teammate to Gasore, is in fourth position with 98 points while Bonaventure Uwizeyimana, who claimed the Farmers’ Circuit in May and the Race to Remember in June, completes top five with 95 points.
The latter has not participated in any Rwanda Cycling Cup event since October after a car accident left him and a dozen more riders injured during the 2018 Grand Prix Chantal Biya in Cameroon.
Nyabihu Cycling team's Gasore Hategeka celebrates his crucial victory as he wins Race for Culture in Rwamagana yesterday (Sam Ngendahimana)
In Saturday’s race, the men’s elite and U-23 category – the main peloton of the race – will depart from Nyanza District through the capital of Kigali, battling it out on a total of 157 kilometres before concluding in Rwamagana District.
Two-time Tour du Rwanda champion Valens Ndayisenga won last year’s Race for Culture after covering 167.8 kilometers from Gatuna in Gicumbi to Nyanza district in Southern Province in 4 hours, 25 minutes and 59 seconds.
The women’s category along with men’s junior category, which will cover 114km, will see cyclists being flagged off from Muhanga District – also through Kigali – and conclude in Rwamagana.
Should Gasore hold off his closest contenders to lift this year's tile, he will be the first rider to win the highly coveted title twice following his 2016 triumph.