Kiel Reijnen begins perfect day for Type 1 – Sanofi by winning Tour of Rwanda 2011
Type 1 – Sanofi Team’s Kiel Reijnen again showed a stunning performance and retained his stage victory in the Tour of Rwanda 2011 on Monday, November 21, 2011. The prologue winner, Kiel took the first stage by easily beating Adrien Niyonshuti of the MTN
Qhubeka Team.
He retained his overall leader’s yellow jersey. The race started in Kigali and ended in Rwamagana. Reijnen set the fastest time of 1 hour, 11 minutes and 54 seconds to cover the distance of 45 kilometres.
After 34 kilometres, four cyclists managed to establish a lead, Adrien Niyonshuti (Team MTN Qhubeka), Kbrom Giday (Ethiopia National Team), Kiel Reijnen (Team Type 1 – Sanofi) and Dylan Girdlestone (Team MTN Qhubeka).
Giday, Reijnen and Girdlestone were caught by the peloton after a few kilometres whereas Niyonshuti, showing impeccable mountain riding skills, emerged as the leader, with 7 points.
In the last kilometres, only three cyclists appeared to be fighting to reach the front, Kiel Reijnen (Team Type 1 – Sanofi), Adrien Niyonshuti (Team MTN Qhubeka) and Alexey Shmidt (Team Type 1 – Sanofi).
Although Shmidt powered to outclass the others, he failed and the duo increased its speed.
Rwanda’s rider, Niyonshuti tried to catch up with Kiel but his attempts were futile as he ended up in the second place but with the same finishing time as the American.
Shmidt finished third with a difference of 2 seconds while nine cyclists crossed the finish-line with the same timing of Shmidt.
Weldemikael Weyo (Ethiopia National Team) put up an unimpressive show and remained unable to gain a lead. He finished 13th with a difference of 6 seconds, ahead of Paul Agorir (Kenya National Team) and Emmanuel Rudahunga (Rwanda Karisimbi).
Nicodem Habiyambere (Rwanda Karisimbi), Ethiopia National riders Getachew Atsbha and Msgena Kindeya, were in the fifth, sixth and seventh place, respectively.
Reijnen took the overall standing with a timing of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 16 seconds while his teammate, Tyler Magner, was in the second place, 12 seconds adrift.
MTN Qhubeka’s rider, Adrien Niyonshuti snatched the third position with a difference of 14 seconds ahead of Joseph Rosskopf (Type 1) and Alem Abebe (Ethiopia National Team).
The next stage will run in Rwamagana and end in Kigali, where all the cyclists will cover a distance of 85 kilometres.
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