Team Rwanda will shine in continental event – Bayingana

Rwanda Cycling Federation (Ferwacy) president, Aimable Bayingana believes the poor performance at the just concluded Tour of Egypt won’t stop Team Rwanda from putting on a good showing at the forthcoming continental championship. This year’s African Cycling Championships is scheduled to take place from February 9 to 14 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, from where the team will head to Libreville, Gabon for La Capitale Amissa Bongo Tour 2015 slated for February 16-22. “I’m not bothered at all by our team’s performance in the Tour of Egypt, it only means we have to put in more efforts into preparing them for the African Championships,” Bayingana told Times Sport in a phone interview on Monday. He noted, “We didn’t perform well in Egypt because of the windy weather which our riders are not used to, they failed to withstand a very windy and hot climate. Otherwise they could have done better, just like they did in the 8-km prologue stage.” The reigning Tour du Rwanda champion, Valens Ndayisenga, who won the Prologue on day 1, finished top of team Rwanda in the 22ndposition, with Bonaventure Uwizeyimana finishing 31st, Janvier Hadi 32nd, Emile Bintunimana (42nd), Patrick Byukusenge (46th) while Joseph Biziyaremye finished in the 47th position. Spaniard Francisco Mancebo, riding for Skydive Dubai, claimed the five-day competition with teammates Soufiane Haddi (Moroccan) and Andrea Palini (Italian) finishing second and third respectively. In team classification, Team Rwanda finished seventh out of ten teams. Skydive Dubai Pro cycling team finished top with Morocco and Algeria completing the top three. Hosts Egypt finished eighth with team Erdinger (Germany) and BC South East (England) occupying the last two slots respectively. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Team Rwanda will shine in continental event – Bayingana