Rwanda to send cyclists to World Cycling Championships

Team Rwanda Cycling will send a female and four male cyclists to the upcoming UCI Road World Championships scheduled for September 19-27 in Richmond, Virginia in the USA. Two-time national female champion Jeanne d’Arc Girubuntu, who is currently competing at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland, will become the first Rwandan female cyclist to compete at the world event. She will compete in the women’s elite road race and individual time trial categories. Olympian Adrien Niyonshuti will compete in the men’s elite category while the reigning Tour du Rwanda winner Valens Ndayisenga, Bonaventure Uwizeyimana and Jean Bosco Nsengimana will once again compete in the men’s U-23 category having also competed at last year’s edition in Ponferrada, Spain. Team Rwanda head coach Sterling Magnell described the feeling in the camp as, “The World Championships is exciting territory. Our riders are making a leap past the stage where they would race all season against their international competition and heading straight into the pinnacle of the world’s biggest race.” Magnell who has been training the national cycling team for three months now said, “The good thing is that they don’t care; they’re showing the kind of confidence and work ethic that makes me believe that they are capable of making things happen on the world stage. I might even be more nervous than they are. Anything is possible, and it is also going to serve as a tremendous learning experience for the future.” The Team Rwanda riders will be racing on the newly acquired Pinarello Dogma F8 carbon race bikes donated by President Paul Kagame as a reward for Team Rwanda’s victory in the 2014 Tour du Rwanda. Team Rwanda Cycling’s founder and Technical Director Jonathan ‘Jock’ Boyer described it as, “This World Championships is significant since it will be Rwanda’s second with the same riders that competed last year along with Jeanne d’Arc for the first time. Our U-23 riders from last year know how difficult the race can be and will be more prepared. I am hoping that all three will finish and be able to keep with the front riders. We have had many more races this year and the experience is at a much better level. I very much look forward to the event.”

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Rwanda to send cyclists to World Cycling Championships