THE President of the National Cycling Federation (Ferwacy) Aimable Bayingana yesterday told Times Sport that the federation is looking at ways of increasing local cycling competitions to boost local riders.

Only two local cycling competitions - Tour of Kigali and Kwita Izina, were held this year and Bayingana reckons that the best way of matching African cycling giants Eritrea and South Africa is by engaging local cyclists in more competitions.

"The number of local competitions has to definitely be increased. We are going to look for sponsors so that we get a good number of competitions next year,” Bayingana said.

This year, Eritrea won the African continental cycling championship for a third time in six years. The nation also dominated this year’s tour of Rwanda and the president of the Eritrean Cycling Federation Tesfas Berhe attributes this to their congested cycling calendar.

"There are over 30 cycling clubs in our country and we usually have at least three competitions a month,” he noted.

Apart from Daniel Teklehaimanot, who claimed the African continental cycling championship and tour of Rwanda titles, the other five riders on the Eritrean team at the tour of Rwanda are home based. Teklehaimanot rides for Swiss Chervelo Club.

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