Pierre Latour and Fabien Doubey tried everything during this stage which brought the peloton from the foothills of the volcanoes in the north of the country to Kigali, the capital. This short but nervous stage left possibilities of changing the general classification two days from the finish.
In turn, we saw the two TotalEnergies riders attacking but without being rewarded for their efforts. With ten riders in less than a minute in the lead of the general this Friday morning, the goal was to thin out the ranks before the final weekend. This was also the strategy of the Soudal-QuickStep of the yellow jersey William Lecerf, but the multitude of dangerous men to watch out for as they approached the Kigali Wall, which preceded the final climb of Mount Kigali, caused the plans established during the pre-race briefings.
The Israel-Premier Tech team, with the German Moritz Kretschy as a scout then with Joseph Blackmore at the finish, finally won their case. Winner of the stage and new yellow jersey, the young Briton is not immune from a mishap, as is often the case on the last days of the Tour of Rwanda due to the unusual effects of the ‘altitude.
Overall, two French people in the top 10
There are only five left in less than a minute at the top of the general standings, including the two Colombians from the Polti-Kometa team, Jhonatan Restrepo (3rd at 13”) and German Gomez (5th at 1′) while the Kazakh from Astana Ilkhan Dostiyev (2nd at 11”) and the former yellow jersey William Lecerf (4th at 55”) can still play spoilsport.
Fabien Doubey (6th at 1’04”) and Brieux Rolland from the Groupama-FDJ team (9th at 2’06”) are the last two French people still present in the top 10.
