Regional
Tour du Rwanda 2021: Loud statement of sound public health system and civility
Not even the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic could stop the 13th edition of the Tour du Rwanda. Initially scheduled to run from February 21-28, it was postponed to May 2-9, and was a big success, going by the overall event organization, participation by both riders and spectators.
On
race days, 75 riders from 15 teams spread through 21 nationalities hit the road
for the 8-day race around Kigali. The distance covered is 913.3 kilometres,
making Tour du Rwanda (Tour of Rwanda), one of the toughest annual cycling
competitions on the UCI (International Cyclists Union) calendar. At 2.1 UCI
Category, Tour du Rwanda is one of the two best cycling races in Africa, with
the other being La Tropicale Amissa Bongo in the relatively flat and tropical,
Gabon at the same ranking.
But
what most cyclists will tell you about the Rwandan tour, is that the hilly
terrain makes it one of the most difficult races and the global attention it
attracts is what makes it the most exciting races on the calendar. This year, the
race was bigger and better, attracting a higher calibre of riders considering
the global circumstances it was being held under.
With
the exception of Rwandan, Eritrean and Algerian national teams, the rest were
continental and world tour teams from around the world. Israel Start-Up Nation
from Israel, a UCI World Tour team, Total Direct Énergie from France and
Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec from Italy are some of the teams that are regular
participants in UCI World Tours.
ProTouch
from South Africa, Bike Aid from Germany, and Terengganu Cycling Team from
Malaysia are some of the UCI Continental cycling teams that defied the odds of
the Covid-19 pandemic to race in Rwanda.
Pro cycling
The
other teams, Tarteletto–Isorex from Belgian, Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling
from the US, Medellín–EPM, a Colombian UCI Continental cycling team founded in
2017 and B&B Hotels p/b KTM, a French UCI Professional Continental team
founded in 2018 are the only teams that were participating in Tour du Rwanda
for the first time.
But
make no mistake, these teams assembled the best personnel including riders who
have participated and won some stages in the grand Tour de France —which made
them favourites for the Rwanda tour. Rwanda was represented by two more teams,
Benediction Ignite and SKOL Adrien Niyonshuti Academy, both of which are UCI
continental teams.
Thanks
to the Covid-19 pandemic, all riders were relatively at the same below par
levels of fitness due to restrictions that limited their training. But the
excitement on their faces to race again was evident after a long spell of
confinement.
“PCR test getting off the plane, quick result. Reassuring anti-Covid policy,” as rightly put by Pierre Rolland, a French rider and two-times stage winner of Tour de France and stage winner of Giro d'Italia in 2017, was the order of the day.
Before the start of the
first stage in Kigali, Eritrean rider, Tomas Goytom noted that they intended to
defend the Tour du Rwanda Yellow Jersey won by compatriot Natnael Tesfatsion in
2020, “despite having limited training time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.” But
it just wasn’t going to be their year.
Through
the rains in the ice-cold northern districts of Musanze, Rulindo and Gicumbi,
to the low-lying roads in the Easter province districts of Nyagatare, Gatsibo
and Kayonza, the riders traversed the central, north, south and eastern corners
of Rwanda in just eight days, except for the western province. Western Rwanda was left out
of this year’s circuit due to fears of exposing riders to the Covid-19 pandemic
in the busy towns bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo.
For the first time in the history of Tour du Rwanda, riders completed their daily stage races and returned in buses to sleep in the capital, Kigali to minimise Covid-19 infections. And it paid off. No single case of Covid-19 was reported among the riders during the two rounds of testing done on the cyclists and the staff of the teams that took part.
The
2021 Tour du Rwanda was the closest tour to call, with riders going into the
final two stages with no safe bet of who would eventually have the best time in
General Classification (GC), including the 4.5km Individual Time trial (ITT)
involving climbing the unforgiving cobblestone “Wall of Kigali.”
Ten top riders in the
General Classification stood a chance to win the grand prize going into the
final day of the race, being separated by just 10 seconds among them and the
best-placed Spaniard Rodríguez Martin Cristian, 26, of Team Total Direct
Energie at the summit of the GC ranking. The final stage was among
the shortest by the most difficult one by all measures. The 75.3km stage had 6x
Cat 1 and the Hors Catégorie (HC) at the finish line at Canal Olympia, located
at the top of Rebero Hill, in Kigali.
At
the end of the eight-stage tour, Spaniard Rodríguez Cristian broke away at the
last kilometre of the race to win the last stage and retain the coveted Yellow
Jersey, consequently becoming the first European rider to win Tour du Rwanda,
in 22 hours 49 minutes and 51 seconds on the road compared with the 22h50’08’
of Piccoli James of Israel Start-Up Nation, who finished second.
Rodríguez Cristian, who is
now the 11th different winner of Tour du Rwanda, crossed the finish line 12
seconds ahead of James of Israel Start-Up Nation, who finished second in GC. The Tour du Rwanda exploits
marked Rodríguez’s first professional victory. After the victory, Rodriguez
said: “I hadn’t really planned to attack on the last climb but when I saw all
the work my team had done, I told myself that I had to try something before my
opponents. It was the best way to avoid losing my jersey. But I was still
confident. It’s my first professional victory, and I will always remember it.
"
Having successfully hosted a safe 13th edition of Tour du Rwanda, it is Rwanda’s strong statement that the country is ready to host the 2025 UCI Road World Championship. The country is also bidding to host the 2025 UCI Road World Championship alongside Morocco. The president of UCI David Lappartient who was in Rwanda to assess the country’s readiness to host the highly anticipated road race, acknowledged that the Rwandan “race is really perfect, well organised.”
To many professional riders
and cycling experts, Rwandan roads offer the toughest test for any professional
cyclist, compared with the flat desert terrain in Morocco. In addition, the
high safety standards exhibited by Rwanda in the just concluded Tour du Rwanda
is enough to convince those who will decide on the next host of the 2025 UCI
Road World Championship. That jury is still out.
Source: theeastafrican.co.ke