8 days, 1130 kilometres and 21,000 metres of elevation gain. The stats for this year's Tour du Rwanda indicate just how demanding this race is. Against the likes of Chris Froome, Henok Mulubrhan and teams like TotalEnergies or Sudal Quick-Step Development, the five riders of the team from Saarland will be lining up at the start.
The first stage starts in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, and ends in Rwamagana, the hometown of new signing Eric Muhoza. He is already looking forward to friends, family and relatives cheering him on at the side of the course. One can hardly imagine a better boost of motivation at the start of a long stage race.
In addition to Dawit Yemane and Wesley Mol, who participated in a highly successful Tour du Rwanda for BIKE AID last year, Francis Juneau and Oliver Mattheis will complete the start list for the team. Together, the majority of the riders arrived on Tuesday to acclimatise to the thin air of high altitude. Led by Eric, who knows the roads in and around Kigali like the back of his hand, they inspected crucial sections of the race on their training rides. After today's last ride before the race, it's now time to put their feet up and discuss final elements of the coming days.
The team's Instagram channel will provide live insights of the race over the next eight days. Furthermore, high-quality recaps of each stage will be published daily by the organiser.
