Eritreans win the Tour of Rwanda
The ninth and final stage of the Tour of Rwanda, a 162.8km circuit starting and finished in Kigali, was won by Eritreans Frekalsi Debesai while his countryman and teammate Daniel Teklehaimanot held on
to the overall leadership of the race, which he took from his teammate Natnael Berhane in the previous stage.
“I wanted him to win,” said Teklehaimanot to
Cyclingnews. “My team expected I win but I wanted to help my friend. I only took the jersey because I felt I had to in front that time.”
Frenchman Benjamin Trouche led the final stage for five kilometres before the Moroccans pulled him in and left it open for Belgian Guy Smet to lead in the home stretch. At 300m from the finish line, Debesai
jumped ahead to finish four seconds before Smet and Teklehaimanot, who crossed the line in a five man group which included South African Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg.
Janse Van Rensburg was the first to wear the leader’s jersey in the Tour of Rwanda after winning the first stage at the head of a six-man sprint on Wednesday, 17 November. Four of the first eight riders
across the line were Eritrean.
In the second stage, the Eritrean national team bested themselves by putting four riders in the top five, included stage winner and new overall leader Teklehaimanot. Trouche won the third stage but the
Eritreans remained in control. Tesfai Teklit finished five seconds behind the stage winner and took the leader’s jersey from his teammate.
The winning team lost the leader’s jersey in stage four but three riders remained in the top five overall, Berhane, Teklit and Teklehaimanot. Debesai, another Eritrean, won the fifth stage and the team
closed their gap on the overall lead.
Teklit retook the leader’s jersey in stage six and passed it to Berhane in stage seven, who in turn lost it to Teklehaimanot in stage eight, who held on to it with a third-place finish in the ninth and
final stage, won by teammate Debesai.
Five Eritreans finished in the top ten in the final stage. Berhane and Teklit finished the stage in seventh and eighth respectively, in a three-man group with teammate Merle Russom, 11 seconds behind the
stage winner.
The same five riders finished in the top ten overall. Berhane was runner-up to Teklehaimanot overall, with South African Janse Van Rendburg joining them on the final podium. Russom and Teklit finished
in sixth and seventh overall respectively. Debesai finished the race in 10th overall.
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