JEAN Eric Habimana has left the country for Switzerland where he is set for a three-month specialised training.

The 18-year old, one of the most promising youngsters in local cycling, departed Kigali Sunday afternoon aboard for Qatar Airways flight. He will be based at the International Union of Cycling (UCI) high performance training centre, in the Swiss city of Aigle.

According to Emmanuel Murenzi, the Permanent General of Rwanda Cycling Federation (Ferwacy), Habimana’s training starts Tuesday and will run through October 4.

"He (Habimana) went there on UCI’s invitation following his impressive performance at last year’s UCI Road World Championships. This is to facilitate him prepare well for 2019 Yorkshire championships,” said Murenzi

The 2019 UCI World Road Championships is due on September 22-29 in Yorkshire, the United Kingdom.

Last year, Habimana was part of Team Rwanda contingent that competed at the 91st edition of UCI Road World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, where he competed in the men’s junior category.

He finished 40th in the 126.8km road race and 49th in the 27.8km individual time trial.

Habimana becomes the third Rwandan to train at the Swiss-based UCI centre after Jeanne d’Arc Girubuntu and Valens Ndayisenga.

In 2017, Habimana, along with compatriot Didier Munyaneza, had a 10-day coaching clinic at the World Cycling Centre Africa (WCC Africa) in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

It is during that period that he made history as he struck a silver medal at the 2017 African Continental Track Championships in Durban. He remains the only Rwandan to have ever competed in any track cycling event.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com