Equatorial rain. Slippery roads and final stage cancelled, in what was supposed to be a test for the world championship. The Tour du Rwanda ends without its final act: the riders decided to stop to avoid risks, and the jury was forced to decree the cancellation of the last stage. The victory goes to French rider Fabien Doubey from Total Energies, who leads the general classification ahead of Eritrean Henok Mulubrhan, who had hoped to win the African stage race.
After a crash involving 30 riders during the initial neutralized lap, the organizers were forced to eliminate the section of the route that included the climb to Mount Kigali and its wall. They opted for 4 laps of the track that will be tackled 15 times at the upcoming world championship, with a cobblestone climb near the finish line. A beautiful breakaway of seven riders emerged: Cuylits (Lotto), Tene (Israel) and Medhanie (Eritrea), joined by Loriot (Amani), Fabries (UAE) and Yemane (Bike Aid), with Bush (Picnic) also joining later. The breakaway's advantage over the peloton reached up to 1'10", with a courageous attack by Bush, followed by Yemane. The 19-year-old Englishman put on a show on the penultimate cobblestone passage, where the operations for the uncertain finale for the overall contenders began.
However, it started to rain heavily, almost at the third passage in front of the Kigali Convention Center. A Belgian classic atmosphere, but at the equator. The yellow jersey Doubey invited the group to proceed at a tourist pace to avoid risks. A decision that generated discussions between riders and judges, until the painful decision not to complete the race, especially since after the heavy rainfall, the sun had already reappeared over the group.
1 DOUBEY Fabien Team TotalEnergies 19:35:12
2 MULUBRHAN Henok Eritrea at 6"
3 MATTHEIS Oliver BIKE AID at 11"
4 DONIE Milan Lotto Development Team at 12"
5 PERICAS Adrià UAE Team Emirates Gen Z at 25"
6 DELBOVE Joris Team TotalEnergies at 43"
7 MASENGESHO Vainqueur Rwanda at 51"
8 MARTINEZ Guillermo Juan Development Team Picnic PostNL at 53"
9 AMAN Awet UCI WCC Men's Team at 1'02"
10 GILMORE Brady Israel - Premier Tech s.t.
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