Rwanda cycling: The unlikely bike boom

  • Published

Best known in the history books for a bloody ethnic genocide in 1994, Rwanda is a nation in need of heroes. The lycra-clad athletes in the country's leading cycling team may have the answer. Team Rwanda are now a familiar sight around Ruhengeri in the country's north-west.

For the BBC World Service, reporter Tim Mansel spent a week with the team as it prepares for its latest international competition. Here, he talks to their American coach, Jock Boyer - and cyclist, Rafiki Uwimana.

To see the enhanced content on this page, you need to have JavaScript enabled and Adobe Flash installed.

Photography and audio by Tim Mansel. Black and white archive images from Getty Images.

Slideshow production by Paul Kerley. Publication date 24 August 2012.

Related:

Assignment: Riding in Rwanda - BBC World Service

More audio slideshows:

A 23-year, 500,000-mile drive

South Africa under apartheid in the 1970s

'Why I care for 52 children'

Winning travel photographs