The Tour du Rwanda tournament has started

The Tour du Rwanda tournament started on sunday with the individual time trial (ITT) for the

first time since 2017.

 Despite current weather challenges in Rwanda, the tournament is expected to attract at least 2 million spectators.

Talking to Africanews, Uhiriwe Byiza Renus, cyclist from team Rwanda anticipates for a

successful tournament as he shares his experience on the first day.

"This first race was so hard because of the rain, when there’s too much rain, the road is

slippery, so it was difficult to me as I didn’t notice my mistakes on the road, today is the

first stage, tomorrow is the next stage, so I will try to win tomorrow."

Organisers of Tour du Rwanda say this year’s tournament has attracted the participation of a few more teams from all across the world and it is a great opportunity to spearhead preparations for the 2025 UCI road world championships.

"This tour du Rwanda is a warm up towards 2025, we look at what can be improved, what can be done better, together with UCI technical teams and other experts in the domain, I think 2025 will be a success to Rwanda and a success to World cycling. ."

19 teams have been selected from major cycling nations in Africa and worldwide, these teams include Start Up Nation from Israel and Total Direct Energie from France.