Tour du Rwanda: Merhawi Kudus of Eritrea wins stage two, claims yellow jersey
Exactly seven years after making his debut appearance at the fourth edition of Tour du Rwanda in which he won one stage, Eritrean professional rider Merhawi Kudus yet again has proved to be a force to reckon with as he rose to the occasion to claim Monday’s second stage of the ongoing 2.1 Tour du Rwanda in what was a rather solo sprint victory.
Following an unfortunate crash just a meters away from the finish line on the opening day which he also nearly won, the 25-year old rider who features for Astana Pro Team, the first World Tour Team to compete at Tour du Rwanda could not make any mistake again on Monday as he put on a stunning sprint finish to claim the 120.3 kilometre stage.
The 2015 Tour de France participant covered the 120.3km in three hours, two minutes and seventeen second beating a strong sprint photo finish of 28 riders by two seconds.
The victory saw him claim the yellow jersey from Delko Marseille Provence Alessandro Fedeli who finished two seconds behind him in the 12th position clocking 03h02’19″.
2019 Tour du Rwanda
Stage Two (120.3km) Results
1. Kudus Merhawi (Astana Pro, Eritrea) -03h02’17
2. Kasperkiewicz Przemyslaw (Delko Marseille Provenance, France) -03h02’19
3. Girmay Hailu Biniam (Eritrea) 03h02’19
4. Joseph Areruya (Delko Marseille Provenance) -03h02’19
5. Contreras PINZON Rodrigo (Astana Pro Team, Colombia) -03h02’19
6. Aguirre Caipa Hernan Ricardo (Interpro Cycling, Colombia) -03h02’19
7. Guglielmi Simon (France U23 Team) -03h02’19
8. Hailemichaeil Mulu (Dimension Data, Ethiopia) -03h02’19
9. Mugisha Samuel (Dimension Data, Rwanda) -03h02’19
10. Natarov Yuriy (Astana Pro Team, Kazakhstan) -03h02’19 ‘
General Classification after Stage 2
1. Kudus Merhawi (Astana Pro Team, Eritrea) 05h43’49’
2. Kasperkiewicz Przemyslaw (Delko Marseille Provence, Poland) -05h43’51
3. Joseph Areruya (Delko Marseille Provence, Rwanda) -05h43’51
4. Guglielmi Simon (France U23 team) -05h43’51
5. Fedeli Alessandro (Delko Marseille Provennce, Italy) -05h43’51
6. Tesfom Sirak (Eritrea) -05h43’51
7. Debesay Abreham Yakob (Eritrea) -05h43’51
8. Aguirre Caipa Hernan (Interpor Cycling Academy, Colombia) -05h43’51
9. Nauleau Bryan (Direct Energie, France) -05h43’51
10. Mugisha Samuel (Dimension Data) -05h43’51
2019 Tour de Rwanda stages:
Stage 1 – Sunday February 24: Kigali-Kigali (112.5 km)
Stage 2 – Monday Februart 25: Kigali-Huye (120.3 km)
Stage 3 – Tuesday February 26: Huye – Rubavu (213.1 km)
Stage 4 – Wednesday February 27: Rubavu – Karongi (103 km)
Stage 5 – Thursday February 28: Karongi – Musanze (138.7 km)
Stage 6 – Friday March 1: Musanze – Nyamata (120.5 km)
Stage 7 – Saturday March 2: Nyamata – Kigali (84.2 km)
Stage 8 – Monday March 3: Kigali – Kigali (66.8 km)
Read more at: Tour du Rwanda
