Riders and clubs will be looking to impress in their first race this season when they hit the road in the inaugural Heroes Cycling Cup race on Sunday.

Organised in honour of the Rwandan Heroes ahead of the National Heroes Day on February 1, the race is a joint effort between Rwanda Cycling Federation and the Chancellery for Heroes, National Orders and Decorations of Honour (CHENO).

The race will be without some of the most elite riders who are representing the country at the 15th La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, which also comes to a climax in Gabon on Sunday.

The six-man team in Gabon includes Joseph Areruya, Samuel Mugisha, Moise Mugisha, Renus Byiza Uhiriwe, Jean-Claude Nzafashwanayo and Didier Munyaneza.

After six of the Amissa Bongo’s seven stages on Saturday, Uhiriwe was Team Rwanda’s best in 15th position, trailing race leader Natnael Tezfazion, of Eritrea, by 70 seconds.

In Sunday’s Heroes Cup, the men’s elite category will ride a total of 108 kilometres, nine laps of a 12km circuit from Nyamirambo – Nyabugogo through Muhima, Agakiriro and Gitega back to Nyamirambo.

The men’s junior riders will battle it out in eight laps of the same route, making a total 72km, while the women’s fray will do 72km – six laps.

Over 60 riders are expected to take part in the one-day race, which will be used by some as a warm-up ahead of the 2020 Tour du Rwanda due next month.