Areruya repeats Tour of Rwanda victory in Huye

The winner in Huye last year at the Tour of Rwanda, Joseph Areruya (Dimension Data for Qhubeka) repeated the victory Monday afternoon in dominant fashion, ridding to a solo victory. Areruya's win last year came in a bunch sprint while his 2017 victory was the result of a long-range attack and came with the bonus of the yellow jersey.

It was a day to celebrate for Dimension Data for Qhubeka with Kent Main leading home the bunch at 1:34 minutes to Areruya. Fourth in the prologue, Areruya now leads the general classification by 1:28 minutes over Jean Bosco Nsengimana (Rwanda National Team) with Valens Ndayisenga (Tirol) two seconds in arrears.

"I was thinking of winning this stage and now I tried and I win and I am very happy," Areruya said, explaining with five kilometers to race he knew he had the win in the pocket.

A Baby Giro stage winner in the spring, Areruya has carried his form into the late season and having finished second overall in 2015 and fourth last year, the 21-year-old is eyeing the win in 2017.

"It was the plan to try and get the yellow jersey but I hope tomorrow my team and I can keep the yellow jersey," said Areruya who led the race for one day last year.

Although holding a commanding lead in the GC, Areruya was quick to point to his compatriots as genuine rivals and the six road stages that await.

"We have Bosco, Valens … not me. I have to fight because we have six days and it is not easy," he said of the GC battle.

At 180.6 kilometers, stage 2 of the Tour of Rwanda from Nyanza to Rubavu is the longest of the race and features six categorised climbs.

How it happened

Following the prologue in Kigali, the crowds from the capital were again out in force for stage one to Huye. The thunderstorms of Sunday afternoon had cleared and given way to blue skies for the stage start.

Once the riders were through the départ réel, a four-man breakaway of Redwan Ebrahim (Ethiopia National Team), Alex Nizeyimana (Club Benediction), and Les Amis Sportifs duo Janvier Rugamba and Samuel Hakiruwizeye quickly established a 30-second lead on approach to the first climb of the day.

On the climb, Hakiruwizeye made his move to claim the KOM points and also move into the virtual maillot jaune. The 20-year-old pushed on and by the second KOM 13 kilometres later, his lead had blown out to 1:30 minutes. Behind Hakiruwizeye, the three breakaway riders were swallowed up by the peloton.

With the lead out to 2:14 minutes following the climb, Samuel was given a long leash by the bunch and again took maximum points on the third KOM and with it, the classification lead. With the categorised climbs done and dusted, it was a rolling finale into Huye for Hakiruwizeye and provided an opportunity for the bunch to pull back him back. With the peloton sensitive to the fatigue levels if the leader on the road, a brief attack came from Cameron McPhadden and Edward Greene (Lowestrates.ca) before Areruya made his race-winning move.

Areruya wasted no time in building his advantage as his 30-second lead quickly ballooned to one minute. With his lead only increasing on the technical finale and uphill run in, a win for Areruya became fait accompli with just the winning margin to be decided.

Soaking in the occasion as he entered the final 500 metres, Areruya celebrated his win in style. 1:34 minutes later, Main completed the double for Dimension Data for Qhubeka with Natnael Mebrahtom spoiling the party for the South African team as he beat home Metkel Eyob for third two seconds later.

Full Results