{"id":119422,"date":"2026-02-09T10:12:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T10:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda"},"modified":"2026-02-09T11:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:15:22","slug":"byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda","title":{"rendered":"Byukusenge Dismisses Retirement Talk After Tour Du Rwanda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Veteran cyclist Patrick Byukusenge says retirement is not on his mind as long as he remains capable of contributing to the national team.<\/p>\n<p>The 34-year-old said this on Sunday, February 8, after winning the Amahoro Criterium, a build-up race used to assess Rwandan riders ahead of the 18th edition of the Tour du Rwanda, scheduled for February 22 to March 2.<\/p>\n<p>Riding on the 3.5km Amahoro Stadium circuit, Byukusenge completed the 12-lap race in 1 hour and 15 seconds, underlining his enduring competitiveness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m still in good shape, which is why retirement is not in my plans,\u201d he said after the race. \u201cMy focus now is to continue making history in cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Java\u2013Innovotec rider is currently in Team Rwanda\u2019s residential camp preparing for the Tour du Rwanda. If selected for the final squad, this year\u2019s edition will mark his 14th appearance in the race.<\/p>\n<p>Byukusenge\u2019s best Tour du Rwanda performance came in 2018, when he finished fifth overall, behind compatriot Joseph Areruya, who claimed the title that year.<\/p>\n<p>He credited his longevity in the sport to divine protection and an injury-free career\u2014factors he says have spared him the fate of many peers forced into early retirement.<\/p>\n<p>Team Rwanda will be without key riders Moise Mugisha, Eric Manizabayo, and Eric Mahozo, who will compete for their respective continental teams\u2014Benediction Cycling Team and Team Amani\u2014in this year\u2019s Tour du Rwanda.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their absence, Byukusenge remains optimistic about the squad\u2019s prospects, pointing to Rwanda\u2019s 10th-place finish out of 25 teams at the recent Tour of Sharjah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are ready for this race. Since the competition was upgraded to UCI 2.1 status, Rwandan riders have struggled to win stages, except for Moise Mugisha in 2022. But we believe we can repeat that achievement this year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He also expressed confidence in emerging talents within the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have faith in the squad we have. Riders like Shadrack (Ufitimana) and Shemu (Nsengiyumva) can do fantastic things, so there is no reason to worry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Rwanda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. Veteran cyclist Patrick Byukusenge says retirement is not on his mind as long as he remains capable of contributing to the national team. The 34-year-old said this on Sunday, February 8, after winning the Amahoro Criterium, a build-up race used to assess Rwandan riders ahead of the 18th edition of the Tour [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":119421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[924,9321,758,3562],"class_list":["post-119422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-cycling","tag-partick-byukusenge","tag-rwanda","tag-tour-du-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Byukusenge Dismisses Retirement Talk After Tour Du Rwanda - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Veteran cyclist Patrick Byukusenge says retirement is not on his mind as long as he remains capable of contributing to t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Byukusenge Dismisses Retirement Talk After Tour Du Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Veteran cyclist Patrick Byukusenge says retirement is not on his mind as long as he remains capable of contributing to t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-09T10:12:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-09T11:15:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770622978.761603.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"642\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Byukusenge Dismisses Retirement Talk After Tour Du Rwanda\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-09T10:12:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-09T11:15:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda\"},\"wordCount\":352,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1770622978.761603.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Cycling\",\"Partick Byukusenge\",\"Rwanda\",\"Tour du Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/byukusenge-dismisses-retirement-talk-after-tour-du-rwanda\",\"name\":\"Byukusenge Dismisses Retirement Talk After Tour Du Rwanda - 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