It was stage three of the Kwita Izina, a yearly event formerly called the “Tour of the Volcanoes” and appropriately named with three stages passing through the Virunga Volcano range shared with Uganda and the DRC, home of the Volcanoes National Park and the rare Mountain Gorillas. But this year was different; it was a UCI 2.2 stage race on the “Africa Tour” race circuit attracting top teams from Eritrea and Morocco among our neighbors Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Yesterday Adrien had lost ground on a brutal stage from Kigali to Kinigi… not just to three Eritreans but to one Moroccan and his two Lieutenants, Nicodem and Gasore. He had been racing full on since January with top performances at the Cape Epic (9th overall and best African team with Mannie Heymans), a victory in a Nissan MTB classic, a stunning 3rd in the 9 day Joberg to sea after a brutal crash damaging his right quad, barely being able to walk. Then he wins the Sani2Sea just a week later still suffering from his damaged quad… another feat.. When he returned to Rwanda on a Thursday he opted to go home for a few days prior to Sundays start of the training camp, a decision demonstrating his role as “head of the family” but potentially hazardous to a riders training and peace with all the solicitations from his immediate and “extended” family. So I was not surprised at him losing a bit of time on the first stage of the race.

Between stage 1 and 2 we started from the home town of the Team Training Center so all the riders could come home to actually rest (albeit for under 75 minutes), Adrien taking full advantage and closing himself in a bedroom to take a 45min nap before the next stage… the only one who allowed no distractions to disrupt his rest.

At the start Moustafa Najjari from the Moroccan National team comes over and tells me that he had been talking to his riders and how they were just amazed at where Rwanda had come over the last years to where they are now! He stated that it was nothing short of miraculous what has happened in this small country and that it has improved cycling in not just in Rwanda but Africa as a whole. No small compliment from a man who had raced in Europe and been in charge of the Moroccan winning team for over a decade.

Stage two whittled the pack down to under 20 riders with the significant gaps after 24th place.. Rwanda had 9 riders in that first group an amazing feat! No significant breaks or losses… Team Rwanda had started with 3 teams of 6 riders. The “A” team sported the new Team Rwanda Cycling “kits”.. the “Karisimbi” team the current jerseys and the “Espoir” Team the local Gisenyi club team jersey. We had 6 promising riders that came from the local single speed races and were experiencing their first ever race, wow what an experience with international caliber riders in their home country!

Stage three started in the Lake Kivu town of Gisenyi, only 500m from the town of Goma, DRC’s epi caldron of violence, rape and chaos with its lawlessness and roads only seen in war zones. You could not have imagined that sort of land bordered so close to a pack of unprotected lycra, $10,000 bikes and champions from all over Africa.

With 35kms of initial climbing the race was pretty well controlled with the Eritreans keeping things pretty intact. A few times we got caught with no Rwandan in a break with both Eritrea and Morocco present but impressively Team Rwanda pulled the breaks in even pulling after they caught the break… I could see not just Adrien but both Nicodem and Gasore leading the pace who both had recently returned from the experience of their lives … almost two months at the UCI World Cycling Center in Switzerland where they honed not just their racing, training, and descending skills but also their English skills (2hrs/day classes). They returned transformed and in the best fitness they have ever been in, they could understand the urgency of bringing in the breaks, making sure Adrien had food and water at all times. Keeping the riders doing what they needed to be doing was also a priority and they did it with a new sense of authority and speed.

The now small pack of riders made it through our home town, Ruhengeri and to the flats before the next significant climb. Team Rwanda gets trumped again, three riders go off the front, two Eritreans and one Moroccan, once again we have to take pulls at the front to reduce the gap. At the base of the climb the breakaway is at 2’40”, by the top of the climb mostly under the pressure of Adrien the gap is reduced to 2’. I fear the next long flat section where a group of three riders could easily get some serious time on a not so organized pack. The descent is fast and the pack gets strung out with Kenyans and the only Tanzanian off the back. At the bottom of the hill one rider has broken away from the pack…. The race radio comes through saying “#1 is off the front with a 500m lead”.. It’s Adrien!

I bridge the gap and find Adrien hammering away 3 against 1 bridging the gap to the trio ahead, and he is closing the gap quickly! He pulls in 2’ in under 10kms but with Adrien in 5th place overall the riders are soon on his wheel not budging.. letting Adrien do the work with their team leaders behind in the pace group. Adrien in his true TT style, content with the solo effort he is so used to… Adrien assumes responsibility with nobility, he knows he is in a suicide situation, even if he makes it to the finish line with his trio trailing they will take him in the last climb, if he gets caught in the end the solo effort will have taken his toll and it will be a impossibility to match the fresher powerhouses from the chase group. His South African coach Carol Austin after studying his SRM files tells me he has an uncommon and remarkable capacity of staying incredibly close to his AT (Anaerobic Threshold) for hours on end.. his ability to hold his pain level and suffer surpasses any she has ever seen. Adrien can and does dig deep; his whole life is about accessing depths that we would never dare to fathom.
He continues powering home keeping the chase group at a 2’30”.. the next climb summits with 30km to go and Adrien still has 2’ on the now small pack. It then splinters the Moroccans are attacking the Eritreans, his lead drops quickly and with about 15kms to the finish Adrien is caught. It was then where Daniel makes his move, Adil from Morocco right behind. By the base of the climb the eventual winner of the stage had almost two minutes on the group, Adrien once again alone with an Eritrean and Moroccan on his wheel all the way to the finish line sprinting past him with 200m to go… A hard sight to watch but one that just increases my resolve to work to surround Adrien with a team that can truly support him in these races where he is the strongest but does not come out as winner.

Adrien is surrounded by the press, his quiet demeanor permeates his surrounding, I could not be more proud of him. I never hear him complain, though I know he is often disappointed it is never voiced in giving excuses or offering blame. He accepts his fate with incredible appreciation of the new life he has, his smiles are from the bottom of his heart and will continue to affect people with the joy they are formed with.