Date: Monday, 02 March 2020
Natnael Tesfatsion on the top step of the final podium © Tour du RwandaFor the third time in twelve editions of the race, it is a runner from Eritrea who wins the final general classification of the Tour du Rwanda : after Daniel Teklahaymanot in 2010 and twelve months after the triumph of Merhawi Kudus, the 20 year old Natnael Tesfatsion is celebrating who managed to bring home the most prestigious success of his young career so far. The Eritrean national team was announced as one of the strongest teams competing here in Rwanda and did not betray the expectations by running with great tactical intelligence and maturity, which is not at all obvious given that we are talking about a group of five boys in which the most "Old" is only 25 years old and the youngest just 18.
If the candidacy to host the 2025 Road World Championships is successful (and there is a lot of confidence here), the local organizers will push for Mount Kigali and Mur de Kigali in the decisive laps at least of the elite test. male, perhaps after an initial non-trivial line, especially if the departure from Gisenyi in the district of Rubavu will be approved. To inaugurate Mount Kigali was the Estonian Rein Taaramäe who started the attack from the first kilometers to make sense of a race in which he hoped to be the protagonist and who instead after seven stages saw him with 46 minutes of delay in the standings: the Estonian of Total Direct Energie went alone on the first pass on arrival,
Previously Mugisha had drilled and had to spend some more energy to return to the group, also because the characteristics of the path did not allow a moment of relaxation, but with his shot he immediately managed to make a difference by also finding the collaboration of Manizabayo: between compatriots, although from different teams, a little help is normal and Eritrea also had "friends" with different shirts. However, Mugisha's advantage has never gone beyond 30 ″ and in the yellow jersey group a great job has been done by Henok Mulubrhan who has justly sacrificed his personal stage victory ambitions to make himself available to a bigger cause.
The order of arrival clearly highlights the hardness of this stage despite the reduced mileage: the runners all crossed the finish line with the South African Kent Main (ProTouch) third at 7 ", our Simone Ravanelli (Androni) fourth at 11 ″, the Swiss Patrick Schelling (Israel) fifth at 22 ″, the Eritrean Swedish passport Awet Andemeskel (Israel) sixth at 24 ″, the Frenchman Paul Ourselin and the Ethiopian Mulu Hailemichael at 31 ″, then the Eritreans Natnael Tesfatsion and Henok Mulubrhan at 39 ″ and finally the Colombian Jhonatan Restrepo eleventh at 43 ″, after having spent a lot previously to find the final podium.
Androni-Sidermec can certainly be satisfied with this Tour du Rwanda with the four stage successes of Jhonatan Restrepo and the first place in the team standings: in general the best was Simone Ravanelli, fifth at 2'03 ", with Jhonatan Restrepo instead seventh at 2'25 ”missing by a whisker the sixth position of Quintero.
