Staging the 13th edition of Tour du Rwanda sets off Sunday, May 2, 2021, amidst strict public health guidelines against coronavirus pandemic to keep the 75 riders safe from infection.

Staging the 2.1 category race under difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to Rwanda’s already success story of how the country has managed the pandemic.

To put it into context, every official, delegate and rider had to undergo PCR test 24 hours before the start of the race and none returned positive results, a reflection that this would be a safe race.

Amid the pandemic, the usually roadside packed cycling fans that have celebrated cycling for 13 years was a relatively quiet race, “but the race has to go on”, as rightly put by Rwanda’s King of the Mountain sensation, Mugisha Samuel, during an interview before the start of the race.