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The Tour of Rwanda, registered for the first time on the UCI International Calendar as a class 2.2 event, took place from 16th to 24th November.
The riders covered a total of 1’069 km with 13’066 m difference of altitude over eight stages. Teams from 12 countries participated in this event: Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Egypt, Eritrea, Holland (Global Cycling), France (CC Le Boulou) and Belgium (Geofco). They were cheered on by thousands of spectators who lined the roads.
The overall winner was Moroccan Jelloul Adil who finished 3’15’’ ahead of his compatriot Abdelatif Saadoune, who has since been voted Moroccan sportsman of the year. The third podium spot went to Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwanda), who won the tour in 2008, when it was still on the national calendar.
The Moroccans certainly dominated this hilly and difficult tour through the beautiful cities and countryside of Rwanda. However, Rwandan, Kenyan and Côte d’Ivoire riders (in particular Eugène Lokossue from CIV) also demonstrated their strength, finishing in the top 15 every day.
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Tropicale Amissa Bongo
The first major event of the year 2010 will be the class 2.1 Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon, from 19th to 24th January. Teams attending will be: Cofidis, AG2R-La Mondiale, B Box Bouyges-Telecom, Team Designa-Kokken (DEN) and African UCI Continental Team MTN (RSA), as well as 10 African national teams from Gabon (2), Morocco, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda and Tunisia.
February will see the Tour d’Egypte from 9th to 14th, followed by the traditional Grand Prix of Sharm El-Sheikh 2 days later. In the centre of Africa, the Tour of Cameroon will take place from 15th – 26th February, attracting many African and European teams.
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Saadoune leads UCI individual rankings
In the UCI Africa Tour individual ranking, Abdelatif Saadoune has taken over the leader’s jersey, 40 points ahead of South African Ian McLeod. Eritrean Daniel Teklehaymanot, who was a trainee at the World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland, in 2009 and his compatriot Bereket Abebe are now in 7th and 8th position respectively.
Due to the great results in the Tour of Rwanda, Morocco has collected a total of 409 points. South Africa lies in 2nd position with 284.64 points, while Eritrea enters the rankings table in 3rd position with 200 points thanks to its excellent results at the Tour Eritrea. The Tour of Rwanda has certainly made a great impact on the rankings and it will be interesting to see the evolution during the first months of the year.
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Photo : Tour of Rwanda
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