Listen to the full interview above via the podcast 

Twenty years on, the effects of the 1994 genocide still cast a long shadow over Rwanda.

But it is from that dark chapter which Rwandan cycling has had to rise from.

Our own Diarmuid 'Gizzy' Lyng caught up with Tim Lewis, the author of The Land of Second Chances: The Impossible Rise of Rwanda’s Cycling Team who has charted the rise of Rwandan cycling from the foothills of tragedy to the present day.

"A lot of these Rwandan guys were naturally talented athletes. They were put on bikes and physiological tests in which they scored really well. They're up there with anyone in Europe," said Lewis of the base of talent in the landlocked African nation.

"In terms of racing, they had no experience at all so they were learning about slipstreaming and various other tactics of cycling which you'd probably take for granted if you grew up in Europe."

A small team, Rwanda only had a five-member team when they began in 2007 and that has grown to 18.

But the story goes deeper than sport.

"The people in that team were mostly Rwandans who were alive during the genocide. They were probably six or seven when the genocide happened and so they had a memory of it and that was present in it," said Lewis of the "interim" generation of Rwanda which includes the star of the team, Adrien Niyonshuti, who lost 60 members of his family during the genocide and who took the step to join a South African racing team before qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics.

Lewis explained the impact former American cyclists Tom Ritchey and Jock Boyer made when they arrived in the country and why it is hard for Niyonshuti as he has to create a culture of sporting success in a land where such glory is relatively unknown.

And Lewis also touched on the views surrounding Boyer who is a convicted sex offender in the United States and spent over one year in jail.