Reijnen powers to prologue victory

Team Type 1-Sanofi took the lead in the Tour of Rwanda, Sunday, in the 3.8km prologue around Amahoro Stadium in Kigali, the country's capital.

Kiel Reijnen won with an average speed of 52km/h, by eight seconds to his teammate Joey Rosskopf and ten seconds to Tyler Magner, another member of the US Pro Continental squad.

"To win today was important for me, to show my thanks to Team Type 1-Sanofi for standing by when I couldn´t even ride my bike for an hour," Reijnen said. The 25-year-old American returned to racing in Rwanda following a season-long illness which kept him out of competition.

Champion of Rwanda and professional of the South African team MTN, Adrian Nyonshuti finished fourth at 14 seconds.

Monday’s split stages will first see the riders take on 48.2km towards Rwamagana, in the East of the country. The day's second stage, 86.5km long and more undulating, will conclude in Kigali, in the district of the Genocide Memorial, after a very steep and short final ascent.

"This course is hard and hilly every day, and the teams here are motivated to do well," said Reijnen. "We´ll have our hands full defending against the South African and Ethiopian squads, and the local Rwanda team has some really strong guys with an entire country pulling for them."