EntenteCordiale

This year's Tour of Rwanda has been getting quite a bit of coverage in the French sporting press. It certainly makes a change from the usual European races. It's mostly African teams taking part, but the Canadian amateur Garneau-Quebecor team have been invited for the first time this year.

https://en.tourofrwanda.com/



After today's 4th stage South African Darren Lill is in the lead, with local hero Adrien Niyonshuti (who rode in the cross-country mountain bike race at the Olympics this summer) 38 seconds behind in 7th place.

Here are some highlights of the prologue and the first three stages (in French only, I'm afraid):

Prologue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu93SgDvMMo

Stage 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDhpi...feature=relmfu

Stages 2 & 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lq2yevx1HE

EntenteCordiale

I first heard about the Rwandan passion for cycling (probably the only good thing they inherited from the Belgians) thanks to a BBC radio programme earlier this year (if anyone's interested, you can listen to it here), but it seems they really are mad about the sport.

A short clip about the importance of bicycles to Rwandans

The story of how former American pro cyclist Jonathan Boyer moved to Africa to set up and run Team Rwanda is really heartwarming, and it's great to see cycling making such a difference in these guys' lives.

And it's spawned what looks like a very good documentary:

EntenteCordiale

Stage 4 Highlights

After the 5th stage from Muhanga to Musanze today, the yellow jersey passes from the South African Darren Lill to the 18 year old Eritrean Kudus Merhawi.

The Eritreans are looking very strong so far: 6 riders in the top 10 of yesterday's stage, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd in today's stage. Eritrean cyclists also currently hold the yellow jersey (Kudus Merhawi), polka dot jersey (Metkel Eyob), best young rider (Kudus Merhawi), and best African (Kudus Merhawi again). I wonder if we'll see any of these guys racing in Europe one day?

Kind of Blued

I've been reading little articles here and there about this race on cyclingnews, but your posts are much more informative. Cool stuff.

It's surprising to me, to find how surprised I am initially to see Africans racing, and seeing a "Tour map" over a country that isn't shaped like France, Italy, or Spain. I look at that kid on the roadside and think "I hope this catches on".

EntenteCordiale

Well, after taking the 5th and 6th stages in style, the Eritreans faded badly in the mountains on the seventh day.

The seventh stage, from Rubavu to the capital Kigali, featured four category 1 climbs above 2000m altitude, for a total climb of 3000m over the 156km of the stage. The day started with Eritrea's Kudus Merhawi leading the GC and the race favourite Darren Lill of South Africa 25 seconds behind him.

Lill attacked right from the start, Merhawi tried to match him for pace but after the 3rd attack he let Lill accelerate away from him and concentrated on conserving his energy for the latter part of the stage. Within 20km Lill had opened up a gap of 4 minutes, and despite a long solo pursuit from Merhawi, by the end of the stage he had fallen 6'52" behind Lill.

On the 8th and final day (Kigali-Kigali) Quebecor's Bruno Langlois got a 2nd stage victory with a fine solo escape and finish in front of a crowd of several tens of thousands of people. Darren Lill held on to his unassailable lead to become the winner of the 2012 Tour of Rwanda, despite a late assault by Merhawi who was clearly desperate to leave the competition with his head held high.

Here are the final standings (courtesy of www.lequipe.fr):

1. Lill (AFS, Equipe nationale d'Afrique du Sud), à 20h9'31''
2. Girdlestone (AFS, Equipe nationale d'Afrique du Sud), à 1'47''
3. Njoroge Muya (KEN, Equipe nationale du Kenya), à 1'59''
4. Atsbha (ETH, Equipe nationale d'Ethiopie), à 2'7''
5. Debretsion (ERI, AS.BE.CO. Cycling team), à 2'59''
6. Merhawi (ERY, Centre continental UCI), à 6'17''
7. Liponne (FRA, Team Reine Blanche), à 9'20''
8. Abebe (ETH, Equipe nationale d'Ethiopie), à 9'53''
9. Niyonshuti (RWA, Team Rwanda Karisimbi), à 10'33''
10. Habte (ERI, AS.BE.CO Cycling Team), à 10'58''

Annoyingly, TV5 stopped uploading highlights to youtube after stage 4, so I haven't been able to find any video footage of the latter stages. However, here is a picture of Darren Lill celebrating his victory:

EntenteCordiale

some more pictures:





















Lots more here.

merlinextraligh

Thanks for the pics and info.

My Coach Dave McIntosh has been working with Team Rwanda, and was DS for the Canadian team in the race.

EntenteCordiale

The most encouraging thing is that a lot of these guys are so young. The Eritreans, who are fast emerging as the leading cycling nation in Africa, are all in their late teens and early twenties, the Rwandan champion Adrien Niyonshuti has been winning races for six years already and is only 25, and with the exception of the race winner (who is 30), the South African team are all quite young too.

It looks like Africa has a vibrant racing calendar too, with some races with great names in exotic places. The Tropicale Amissa Bongo, anyone? It starts in Gabon in two months time, and usually features a few big names from France (Thomas Voeckler and Anthony Charteau last year, Sylvain Chavanel the year before).