3 Team Rwandan to debut at Tour du Cameroun

Team Rwanda Cycling will this afternoon (13:45pm) jet out of the country aboard RwandaAir heading to Yaoundé for this year’s Tour du Cameroon slated for March 12-20 in the West African country.

While the first team is competing at the month-long Grand Cycling Tour of Algeria, running from March 4 to 28, the six-man team to vie for the yellow jersey in Cameroon is comprised of three experienced riders and three youngsters making their debut in the national team.

Captained by veteran Abraham Ruhumuriza, the Cameroon-bound team also includes Camera Hakuzimana and Gasore Hategeka as the other two senior cyclists.

The debutants are Ephrem Tuyishime, Mathieu Twizerane and Eric Nduwayo.

In telephone interview with Times Sport on Tuesday morning, head coach Felix Sempoma said that his men are fit and ready for the race.

“We are ready, everyone on the team is, our major target in Cameroon is the top spot. It will be a tough call since the first team riders are in Algeria but I’m confident in riders I have right now, they are fired up to excel.”

Starting tomorrow, the team will be regularly training to adapt to Cameroonian climate and race environment which is said to be dominantly hilly and windy.

At the 2015 edition, Team Rwanda finish top in team classification, Emile Bintunimana finished third in general classification while Camera Hakuzimana finished third in U23 category.

The nine-person (six cyclists and three staff) delegation to Cameroon also includes head coach Sempoma, mechanic Issa Ntibituye and physiotherapist Innocent Uwamungu.