Adrien Niyonshuti

Adrien Niyonshuti

Adrien Niyonshuti (Quatre jours de Dunkerque, 2014)
Personal information
Full name Adrien Niyonshuti
Nickname Manconsho[1]
Born (1987-01-02) 2 January 1987[2]
Eastern Province, Rwanda
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Weight 68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st)[1]
Team information
Current team Team Dimension Data
Discipline Road, Mountain
Role Rider
Professional team(s)
2007–2008 Team Rwanda[2]
2009– Team Dimension Data[2]
Major wins

One-Day Races and Classics

National Road Race Championship (2010, (2011, (2012)
National Time Trial Championship (2016)
Infobox last updated on
7 October 2016
Niyonshuti at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Adrien Niyonshuti (born 2 January 1987 in Eastern Province, Rwanda) is a professional bicycle racer for South African UCI Continental team Team Dimension Data.[3] Although he survived, six of Niyonshuti's brothers were killed in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.[1] Niyonshuti began riding a bicycle given to him by his uncle as a teenager, when he came to the attention of former professional cyclist Jonathan Boyer in 2006 during the first Wooden Bike Classic. After riding for the Rwanda national cycling team, Niyonshuti secured a professional contract with Team MTN Cycling, beginning in the 2009 professional season.

Career

Niyonshuti began amateur cycling at the age of 16 in his native Rwanda. In 2006, he came to the attention of a former professional cyclist, Jonathan Boyer. The first American cyclist to compete in the Tour de France, Boyer was working in Rwanda on a project to import cargo bicycles for coffee farmers. Boyer also assumed the role of coach for the Rwandan national cycling team, and recruited Niyonshuti to race.[4] Niyonshuti had good initial results in local races such as the Tour of Rwanda, in which he finished in the top ten five years in a row and won in 2006 and 2008.[5]

In 2008, Niyonshuti attended the Africa Continental Centre Training Camp in South Africa, where he was offered a contract by Douglas Ryder, the directeur sportif of UCI Continental Team MTN Energade.[1][4] He started his first UCI European road race in August 2009 with his participation in the 2009 Tour of Ireland, becoming the first Rwandan cyclist to ride in the European professional peloton.[4] Niyonshuti qualified to represent Rwanda in the cross-country mountain bike race during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.[6] He was also Rwanda's flagbearer at the opening ceremony.[7]

Niyonshuti competed for Rwanda again at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He did not finish the men's road race.[8] He was the flagbearer for Rwanda again during the opening ceremony.[9]

The Adrien Niyonshuti Cycling Academy

After the 2012 London Olympic Games Niyonshuti immediately felt he wanted to offer the chance for young people in his country to experience the power of cycling, to instill hope and to pass on its positive values to future generations.

The Adrien Niyonshuti Cycling Academy[10] idea was born and the first location chosen was his home town of Rwamagana. Along with support from the Rwandan Cycling Federation, Team Rwanda and the Rising from Ashes Foundation the academy was officially launched in the August 2013.

The initial 2014 program will focus on building the Academy in Rwamagana with a view to opening up two new Rwandan centres in 2015. The presence of a professional team documenting and continuously assessing performance via tangible results the Academy will have gained the tools and experience to expand outside the borders of Rwanda.

Major results

2004
6th Overall Tour of Rwanda[5]
2005
7th Overall Tour of Rwanda[5]
2007
4th Overall Tour of Rwanda[5]
2008
1st Overall Tour of Rwanda[11]
7th Telkom Satellite Mountain Bike Challenge[2]
2010
1st National Road Race Championships
2011
1st National Road Race Championships
1st Overall Tour de Kigali
2012
1st National Road Race Championships
2013
9th Overall Tour of Rwanda
2016
1st National Time Trial Championships

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Team Rwanda (2009). "Adrien Niyonshuti" Archived 27 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Ryder Cycling (2009). "Adrien Niyonshuti". Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  3. ↑ "MTN Qhubeka (MTN) – RSA". UCI Continental Circuits. Union Cycliste Internationale. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Delany, Ben (2009). "Rwandan rider Niyonshuti faces a new future at the Tour of Ireland" Archived 28 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine.. Velonews. 20 August 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 4 The New Times (2008). "Niyonshuti bags Frw 0.7m". Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  6. ↑ "Genocide survivor Niyonshuti to make Olympic debut". The Times Of India. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Glasgow 2014 - Adrien Niyonshuti Profile". g2014results.thecgf.com. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  8. ↑ "Rio 2016". Rio 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  9. ↑ "The Flagbearers for the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony". 2016-08-16. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  10. ↑ "The Adrien Niyonshuti Cycling Academy". Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  11. ↑ The Cycling Website (2008). "Adrien Niyonshuti wins the Tour de Rwanda 2008" Archived 15 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine.. 25 August 2008.

External links

Olympic Games
Preceded by
Pamela Girimbabazi		 Flagbearer for  Rwanda
London 2012
Rio de Janeiro 2016 		Succeeded by
Incumbent


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