Muraho, Bonjour, Hello, my name is Patrice Ntwari and I am proud to say that I am a professional cyclist!
What a dream this is for me but it is not a dream of which I have had for very long, I have rode a bike since I was very little, but when I was young I knew nothing of European bike races and I had no idea that the opportunity would exist for a young man from Rwanda to join them on their rides around the world.
So, please a little about myself as a rider and about my new team.
As I said my name is Patrice Ntwari and I am 19 years old from Rwanda, I am an all-around rider and I have good strength for short climbs.
I ride for the Chambery Cyclisme Formation team which is the young cyclist team of the AG2R La Mondiale cycling team.
Objective for this season: It is my hope to ride well for my team and teammates this year and develop myself further as a rider, I hope you will join me and we can enjoy this journey together!
As I sit here in my hotel room, ready, I hope, for my first race I think I should try to answer what I have been asked so often since I arrived here in Europe, ‘How did I get involved with cycling?’ yes it is a good question, how did I get involved with something I knew so little about yet has changed my life so completely? this hotel, this city, this country, even the clothing that I am wearing and the bicycle I am about to ride is so foreign, it is not just a different country, it is a different world and I am a different person in it I think. Perhaps as I write more (if you want to read it!) I will talk more about who I used to be and my other world but to get back to the question of how I got involved with the sport of cycling it is not because of the bicycle but perhaps because of a motorcycle.
I have been riding bicycles for many years, many different types of bicycles some of which you would not recognise! I would often have to ride to nearby houses and villages to carry out tasks, pass along messages or to fetch people, and of course like any child I often rode my bicycle for fun but never really for speed. There are many hills where I live and I would often ride as fast as I could and then take my feet away from the pedals as I zoomed downhill, often it would be very fast and very scary but scary to a child is often very enjoyable too! but I never rode for speed on level ground or on hills, I rode to explore and to see.
Looking back I can see when that changed, it happened when our family bought a motorcycle, it was our first motorised vehicle and it was given to my older brother Yannick to ride and I would often try to ride with him on my bicycle for fun. He would not use it every day but as soon as I saw him getting ready to leave I’d jump on my bicycle and head off down the road, our houses are half way up a hill and is effectively the end of the road so I would race downhill and then along our dirt track until it finally reached a tarmac road, at first I would stop here and turn back but later I would continue to ride on the road as it rose and fell away until we reached the nearby town of Mabanza or Ruragwe, Yannick would often wait for me when he passed by and would slow down so I could ride on his back wheel giving everything I had until I would pull over exhausted, it felt like I was close to death but I would have the biggest smile on my face!
Of couse neither Yannick’s motorcycle or myself were very fast and we would often be passed by cars and trucks, sometimes with other cyclists hanging on the back of the vehicles! It was one of these days when I was riding behind my brother (I was learning to pace myself better I think!) when I could feel that a car was behind us but was not passing by, I looked behind me and could see a car following a couple of meters away and it followed us until I finally peeled away from my brother and stopped at the side of the road, this was where I met Mr Bokota.
I was standing by the side of the road holding my bicycle close as I watched Mr Bokota struggle to get out, I wasn’t very tired as I had been unsettled by his car and so I had pulled over early and as he approached me smiling I was still deciding if I would not be better to ride away as fast as I could! “So, you want to be a racer!” those were his first words and I was so confused that all thoughts of fleeing left my mind, ‘want to be a racer?’ what does he mean a racer? It was there, standing by the side of a road that I first learned about bicycle racing, he told me about races held here in Rwanda and races held around other African countries and he told me that if I became good enough I would be able to travel to these races and perhaps even make my living this way!
After our conversation I rode home in a daze, I had never considered my future before, I didn’t know that I had choices, that there was any other choice? but now everything had changed and for the first time I actually had a dream and a desire to be something else, someone else, something still unknown to me.
Before Mr Bokota drove away he told me that he would be passing back this way in two days and that I should wait by the side of the road for him and that he would have more information for me and my parents to look at, the first day after meeting him was slow but I had many thoughts in my mind, I didn’t tell anyone about what had happened, I couldn’t understand it myself so I could explain it to others.
The second day came and my brother Yannick was not going to town that day, I could still have gone on my own but I didn’t, I panicked, I cycled part of the way but then stopped before I reached the road and just sat by a tree looking at my bicycle, could that be my future? did I believe it? did I want it to be? It was late before I knew the answer to that last question and I knew that Mr Bokota would not still be waiting. I wish I could tell you more about Mr Bokota but I never saw him again, his first words to me however I still remember well, “So you want to be a racer!”.
PCMdaily Cup 1 San Sebastian – San Sebastian [148.2 kms] Result: 16th [+25”]
“Take your time, learn the speed and rhythm of the peloton, listen to the radio, to your teammates, do not attack, do not fall behind and do not panic!”
I panicked, I was nervous, I survived, somehow. I’ve never been in anything like this, I’ve raced before of course but not with so many people and not at such speeds, I was concentrating so hard that I was in my own shell, I never heard my name being called until Benoit tapped me on my shoulder to give me instructions. It was with relief that I reached the first climb of the day, I was well positioned and tasked with looking after Nico, I tried to listen out for him but in truth I just rode up near the front and tried to keep pace, as the early breakaway was pulled back with 20kms to go another group attacked, I went to go with them then looked behind to see Nico still seated in the group, I slowed just as he accelerated and in the confusion we lost touch with the new leaders, I worked hard to bring us back but it was too much, Nico finished in 10th, fourth in our chasing group.
PCMdaily Cup 2 San Sebastian – San Sebastian [123.4 kms] Result: 85th [+0”]
I was still feeling the effects of my first professional race but now I was with more confidence and I had a better understanding of what was being asked of me, today was a race for sprinters so I was tasked with looking after teammates, I had hoped to try and join the breakaway but was told that further experience in the peloton would serve me better. It was not a great day for the team but I think we were all feeling better with another race completed.
PCMdaily Cup 3 San Sebastian – San Sebastian [123.7 kms] Result: 35th [+1’20”]
Today was perhaps one race day too many for our first week of racing, on paper I had hoped that I would be given freedom and could gain a good finish for the team. I began the race looking after other riders however as the race progressed it was clear that I was still with good legs while others in the team struggled, so towards the end of the race I told to ride at the front and to race for myself, sadly I missed the decisive move but I was still pleased my performance. It has been a hectic week but I feel that I am learning with each pedal stroke was is required to become a professional cyclist.
Tour De Normandie 7 Stages Result: 101st [+4’33”] – 1st Mountain Classification
At our training camps we were given access to time trial bikes, I have only ever rode these bikes on the day of competition and I was never able to ride one for training, I have a love for all bikes, sometimes I think the bike I love most is the one I have not yet ridden, and so it was with the Focus Chrono bike. I rode this bike a lot, in fact I was told often that I was not allowed to use it when we went on our training rides! despite my liking of the bike I do not think I showed any special ability in time trialling, certainly it came as some surprise to all when I finished 2nd in the opening 4.8km prologue to Adrien Petit of Cofidis. I was very happy with my good result and for a while I thought I may have won my first victory! despite my good ride the team plans to ride for Denz did not alter, it was agreed that I could attack and try to disrupt the Cofidis team. Unfortunately we proved unsuccessful in challenging for the overall or any stage victories, however my time in the breaks did prove successful in my winning of the Mountain Classification, although not strictly a victory it is my first success!
