Photo: Madote Eritrea proved that they are Africa's cycling giants after winning the African Continental Cycling Championship for an unprecedented third straight year in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on Sunday.
However, it was a forgettable outing for Team Rwanda with Adrien Niyonshuti the only cyclist to finish in the top ten in the final two categories; Individual Time Trial and Elite men Road race.
In the Individual Time Trial race which covered 31.8km, the MTN Qhubeka rider finished 9th after clocking 41 minutes and 10 seconds; one minute and 58 seconds slower than the race winner Daniel Teklehaimanot of Eritrea.
He followed up this display with a 10th spot finish in the grueling 170km Elite Men Road race after using 4 hours, four minutes and 57 seconds. Joseph Biziyaremye, the only other Rwandan to finish the race, used 4 hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds to finish in 31st position. Javier Hadi, who managed to finish 16th in the Individual Time Trial race and Abraham Ruhumuriza were part of 18 riders who did not finish the final race.
The race was swept by Eritrea's Natnael Berhane in 4hours and 27 seconds while South Africa's Jay Thomson, who won the championship in 2008, finished second and Eritrea's Frekalsi Debesy third.
Eritrea also won 2010 and 2011 editions which were held in Kigali (Rwanda) and Asmara (Eritrea) respectively.
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@tsigeadal - what a comment :) who doesn't like his country. Typical Eritrean Menatality.
Yes, Eritrean Team deserve congratulation for the good work! Job well done.
Eritreans are Great people of Africa, respected people in the world. Kind, honest, hard working, who loves their country more than any thing in this world. Always they are very proud what they are doing in their motherland Eritrea,