In a blistering and nail-biting bunch sprint, race-favourite William Junior Lecerf won the 93-km fourth stage of Tour du Rwanda 2024 on Wednesday as Pepijn Reinderink retained the yellow jersey after emerging fifth.
The 21-year-old Belgian rider from Soudal Quick-Step team, laid down a powerful sprint to pip stage-three winner Jhonatan Restrepo to the finish line in two hours, 19 minutes, and 22 seconds.
He also plunged into second place on the general classification, levelling with Reinderink on nine hours, 23 minutes, and 34 seconds after 381 kilometres of four stages.
Restrepo, who came in second spot, and the other 20 riders clocked the same time with Lecerf.
Eritrea’s Merhawi Kudus was the Best African Rider on the stage for the second time this year, following his eighth-place finish.
Moise Mugisha was able to hold onto his dream of winning the race as the Java-Inovotec Pro Team rider finished 18th to seal the Best Rwandan Rider award of stage four and stayed in 17th position on the general classification, seven seconds behind the leader.
The 90 riders set off in Karongi and ended in Rubavu. Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome looked to finally do a bang-up job today, grabbing an early 10-second advantage after 11 kilometres only to be caught up by the peloton afterwards, before Pierre Latour of Total Energies attacked and broke away.
Brieuc Rolland, who rides for Groupama-FDJ, overtook Latour after 66 kilometres, and he had a 30-second lead ahead of the peloton at the time. The peloton also caught Latour after 75 kilometres, and Rolland stayed in the lead alone.
There were loads of attacks at the head of the peloton which ultimately saw Rolland being caught up by the pack that included the yellow jersey holder in the final three kilometres, and this pack held off, with Lecerf outsprinted everyone to emerge victorious on the finish line.
Mugisha must show off on Thursday, when every rider will be taking on the Individual Time Trial stage five, covering 13 kilometres across the city of Musanze, to escalate his chance of becoming the first Rwandan rider to win the 2.1-rated race.
The first rider expectedly will hit the road at 1 p.m.
Stage four results
- William Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step) 2hours 19minutes 22seconds
- Jhonatan Restrepo (Polti Kometa) same time
- Julien Simon (Total Energies) same time
- Giacomo Villa (Bingoal WB) same time
- Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step) same time
General Classification
- Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step) 9hours 23 minutes 34seconds
- William Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step) same time
- Jhonatan Restrepo (Polti Kometa) same time
- Giacomo Villa (Bingoal WB) same time
- Peter Joseph Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) same time
