The national cycling governing body (FERWACY) president, Abdallah Murenzi has said that everything is in order to ensure that the Tour du Rwanda 2022 becomes a successful one.

Arguably the biggest race of the UCI Africa Tour calendar, the race kicks off in Kigali on Sunday, February 20 and will run until February 27. It will attract 95 cyclists from 19 teams from various countries competing in 8 difficult stages crossing nationwide.

As the race is just hours before the kickoff, Murenzi said that everything is arranged in its right place as he anticipates a successful tournament which is in its 14th edition.

"I think everything is ready. Our Rwandan teams are ready and the majority of the teams expected to participate in the race have arrived and we hope that the rest jets in today. We hope to witness an entertaining and successful tournament,” Murenzi told Times Sport in an interview.

"We are in touch with concerned institutions like the Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) and the national police, among others, to ensure that the tournament happens in a smooth way,” he added.

Fans back on streets

The rise in cases of covid-19 forced the government to ban the public from gathering on streets to follow the race from respective itineraries but Murenzi said that people will finally be allowed to support their favorite cyclists during the tournament, now that the pandemic is under control.

"Last year’s tournament happened under stringent conditions that couldn’t allow people to follow it from the streets as they used to due to the pandemic but they will this time be allowed to witness the race as long as they are vaccinated. We encourage people to get the vaccines required not only to follow the race but also for the sake of their health safety,” he said.

The tournament is expected to attract at least 2 million spectators.

There are cases of roads which have been damaged by heavy rains which could pose a challenge to cyclists during the race but Murenzi said they are in contact with Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) to ensure the roads can be repaired in due course.

The agency has, for instance, repaired the Kigali- Rulindo-Musanze road which was impassable since Friday due to heavy rains that caused the landslide in the area.

 "The riders can carry their bikes in case they get to a place where the road is damaged and continue the race. You can’t cancel the whole race because just a one-kilometre part of the road is damaged. It normally happens in other races and such cases never stop races from happening,” he said.

Time to end foreign riders’ dominance?

Quality and standard equipment has been among key factors that hinder Rwandan riders from challenging for the yellow jersey during the past few years, especially when the race was upgraded to UCI 2.1.

Last year, riders raised their concerns that lack of new cycling equipment remains a key issue that affects their chances of winning the Tour du Rwanda.

Rwandan cyclists have for the past six years been using the bikes that President Paul Kagame donated to the national team in 2015.

The President at the time offered 18 road bikes and eight-time trial bikes to Team Rwanda in December 2015 following their historic success at the 2014 Tour du Rwanda.

The bikes were, however, replaced and the national team will ride Ridley bikes version 2021, prior to this year’s Tour du Rwanda.

With the new equipment, Murenzi said, "We hope that Rwandan riders can put up impressive performances and even win Tour du Rwanda 2022 now that they’ve got new and standard cycling equipment plus their arrears have been paid,” he said.