Four months into the New Year and Rwanda is enjoying unparalleled cycling success. 2017 Tour of Rwanda winner Joseph Areruya led the national team at the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon, winning a stage and the overall. A first 2.1 UCI overall win for a Rwanda. The 22-year-old headed back to West Africa leading the team again at the nations cup l'Espoir Blue Line race where he also sealed overall victory.
Victory at l'Espoir Blue Line securing further Rwanda cycling history, sealing an invite to the Tour de l'Avenir in August. The start to the year earning Areruya a contract with the French Pro-Continental Delko Marseille Provence KTM team.
Although Rwanda missed winning any elite gold medals at February's African Championships in the capital city of Kigali, Areruya remains top of the individual UCI African Tour rankings. With over 1000 points, Rwanda sits second in the nation rankings with 18 plus races still to be run.
ADVERTISEMENT
This isn't a story of overnight success for Rwanda cycling and but the culmination of ten plus years of tireless work that started with Tom Ritchey and Jock Boyer. Sterling Magnell has taken since taken up the mantle as national coach. Monterey, California leading the trio to Musanze, Rwanda at pivotal points in their lives to contribute to one of the more amazing stories within the sport this millennium.
A few months after Magnell was born, Boyer rode to 12th place at the Tour de France. 14 years later the duo would meet for the first time. "The world is a small place and gets real small when you ride a bike," Magnell tells Cyclingnews of their introduction. Due to a family friendship, Magnell was already acquainted with Ritchey and it was at age 12 he would receive his first bike courtesy of him. The seeds of Magnell's pro career had been sown.
Magnell's career didn't reach the heights of Boyer but the bicycle has remained a crucial building block in his life. Once Magnell hung up his wheels full time, he still races occasionally, the second chapter of his cycling career swung into gear.
Necessary changes and challenges
Building for the future
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/building-for-the-future-in-rwanda
No comments:
Post a Comment