Tour du Rwanda 2015 Stage 2

photo credits @ Tour du Rwanda

excerpts from KT Press

Emile Bintunimana claimed stage 2 of this year’s Tour de Rwanda today, subsequently tasking over the race lead, while veteran rider Abraham Ruhumuriza narrowly grabbed 2nd place from France’s Julien Liponne.

Kenya’s Suleiman Kangangi and France’s Bescond Jérémy proceeded to put pressure on the peloton during the middle of todays 120 kilometer stage from Kigali to Huye, increasing their gap from 20 seconds, then to 50 seconds and then to about 3 minutes, crashing Team Rwanda’s hopes of reviving their encounter after yesterday’s Nyagatare-Rwamagana hurtful defeat.

Kangangi, who is participating for the 4th time, scared his counterparts riding so hard on painful hilly terrains leaving a massive gap; unfortunately he burnt his horsepower and missed out on all leading slots, as did France’s Bescond Jérémy.

Rwanda’s Nsengimana of Team Karisimbi remains leader in general classification and retains the yellow jersey after catapulting all racers and winning the prologue circuit and maintaining a fair position of 7 for stage 1 and 9 for stage 3.

Despite their impressive performance in the prologue race, Valens Ndayisenga and Janvier Hadi could not even smell the sweat of the first ten racers today, perhaps a strategy for Team Rwanda to exhaust their counterparts as 5 tiring stages remain ahead.

Eritrean Mekseb Debesay of Bike Aid, who won yesterday’s 119.9km stage from Nyagatare to Rwamagana took 24 seconds to take the 6th position, behind leading Emile Bintunimana.

The encounter was characterized by multiple attacks. At one a Moroccan rider took a 10 seconds lead but Rwanda’s peloton aggressively chased and swayed him away, causing wild applause from thousands of fans along the highway.

As spectators thought the riders were all gone, a team of armature Rwandan riders of the cycling academy emerged. They are all along trailing their seniors along the meandering highway.

The race got intense on Huye hill 6 to 5km before the finish line. Swiss riders kicked in, thrusting into 27s gap ahead of Peloton draining its reserved gas.

Huye town was swarmed by spectators. Some climbed trees while others stood on top of tall buildings to get a closer look. Women were seen running from gardens rushing with their children to stage along the road.

Finish 2nd stage #TdRwanda pic.twitter.com/nLU8FhctvC

— Tour du Rwanda (@TourofRwanda) November 17, 2015

Top 10 Finishers 

1 Emile Bintunimana (Rwa) Rwanda Muhabura 3:02:18
2 Julien Liponne (Fra) Team Haute-Savoie Rhône-Alpes
3 Abraham Ruhumuriza (Rwa) Team Rwanda Akagera
4 Joseph Areruya (Rwa) Team Rwanda Akegera 0:00:18
5 Gasore Hategeka (Rwa) Rwanda Muhabura
6 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Bike Aid Bike Aid 0:00:24
7 Tesfom Okubamariam (Eri) Eritrea
8 Aron Debretsion (Eri) Eritrea
9 Jean Bosco Nsengimana (Rwa) Team Rwanda Karisimbi
10 Amanuel Meron (Eri) Bike Aid

General Classification

1 Jean Bosco Nsengimana (Rwa) Team Rwanda Karisimbi 5:56:48
2 Emile Bintunimana (Rwa) Rwanda Muhabura 0:00:02
3 Valens Ndayisenga (Rwa) Team Rwanda Karisimbi 0:00:07
4 Julien Liponne (Fra) Team Haute-Savoie Rhône-Alpes 0:00:11
5 Joseph Biziyaremye (Rwa) Team Rwanda Akagera 0:00:12
6 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Bike Aid
7 Jérémy Bescond (Fra) Team Haute-Savoie Rhône-Alpes 0:00:13
8 Willie Smit (RSA) South Africa
9 Janvier Hadi (Rwa) Team Rwanda Karisimbi 0:00:14
10 Joseph Areruya (Rwa) Team Rwanda Akegera