Rwanda: Mugisha tops breakaway to take Stage 2 victory, yellow jersey

A three-man break rode all the way to the end of the 120.5-kilometre second stage of the 2018 Tour du Rwanda (UCI 2.1) on Monday, with pre-race favourite Samuel Mugisha (Rwanda) riding off the front on the final climb (Cat. 3) inside the last two kilometres to take the solo win and the overall race lead.

“It’s a great pleasure for me to finally win at home,” said the Dimension Data for Qhubeka rider, who is racing for the Rwanda National Team this week. “It was not easy because with Jean-Claude Uwizeye next door and the Ethiopian that I didn’t know, there was danger to the end.”

Mugisha took the win over break-mates Jean-Claude Uwizeye (POC Cote de Lumière) and Mulu Hailemichael (Ethiopia) by a margin of 21 seconds.

Prior to the finish, the trio looked relaxed and essentially unchallenged over the four categorised climbs at altitudes hovering around the 2,000-metre mark and opened up a gap of nearly four minutes mid-way through the stage.

“I am pretty disappointed in today’s result,” American Timothy Rugg (Embrace the World) told Eurosport after the stage. “I had an opportunity to bridge to the breakaway on the climb and the Kenyan rider I was with refused to work. I should have just taken my chances and tried to ride across on my own.

“Yeah, a bit disappointed for sure,” the two-time Rwanda stage winner continued. “The way those three are climbing, it will be hard for anyone to beat them.”

With the win, 20-year-old Mugisha lifts the yellow jersey off Stage 1 winner Azzedine Lagab (Groupement Sportif des Petroliers Algerie) and aside from Uwizeye and Hailemichael, takes a 3-minute advantage over his nearest rivals with another mountain stage at altitude looming, including a catégorie 1 at 2,400m inside the final 35km of the 199.7km stage from Huye to Musanze on Tuesday.