Elite riders Joseph Areruya and Moise Mugisha lead a 16-man squad that Team Rwanda interim coach Felix Sempoma has summon to start preparations for the upcoming 2023 edition of the Tropicale Amissa Bongo and Tour Du Rwanda races.
Areruya, in 2018, became the only Rwandan in history to win La Topicale Amissa Bongo, which was at the time the biggest cycling race on the UCI-Africa Tour while Mugisha became the first Rwandan to win a stage at Tour du Rwanda since it was upgraded by the International Cycling Union (UCI) to a 2.1 race in 2019.
The duo will be hoping their experience at continental cycling races to play an impact and give the rest of the young but strong squad a motivation both of the forthcoming races.
The team is camping at Africa Rising Cycling Center in Musanze where they will stay during the training sessions.
They will go through intensive training sessions after which six of the riders will be selected to represent Rwanda at La Tropicale Amissa Bongo slated for January 23-29 in Gabon while six others will be picked to contest for Tour du Rwanda that will take place from 19-26
For Rwandan riders, participating at La Tropicale will be a good opportunity to prepare for the Tour Du Rwanda.
Areruya is expecting to be in Gabon as he looks to win a race he won four years ago.
Since his triumph, Rwandan riders have posted mixed results which have in the end earned them better rankings to be among the best in Africa.
The Tropicale Amissa Bongo will return to the UCI international calendar after a two-yer histus due to the covid19 pandemic.
Organisers said that all the conditions are now in place to offer the international and African teams the confrontations that have allowed the discovery of the continent's young talents since 2006, such as Eritrean Biniam Girmay, winner of Ghent-Wevelgem and a stage of the Giro d'Italia this year, who has taken his first victory on the roads of Gabon in 2019 against the professionals.
The Tropicale Amissa Bongo will once again bring together in Gabon the champions who are used to major world events and African riders to showcase the continent's talents. The format of the Gabonese event will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Rwanda is among the 10 countries that that will be represented during the Gabonese cycling race along with Benin, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eritrea, Côte d'Ivoire, Morocco, Mauritius and Gabon.
Team Rwanda squad list
Moise Mugisha, Eric Manizabayo, Patrick Byukusenge, Suwayibu Kagibwami, Renus Byiza Uhiriwe, Joseph Areruya, Masengesho, Jean Eric Habimana, Samuel Niyonkuru, Jean Claude Nzafashwanayo, Eric Nkundabera, Jean Baptiste Nsengimana, Uwiduhaye, Janvier Rugamba and Eric Muhoza.