TEAM BIKE AID IMPRESSES AT THE TOUR DU RWANDA – WITH OVERALL VICTORY WITHIN REACH!
At the Tour du Rwanda 2023, Africa’s top cycling race, the Saarland cycling team was able to put in an exceptional performance against a strong, prominent field of top teams and cyclists.
With riders including the four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome and current African champion Henok Mulubrhan, as well as teams like TotalEnergies and Sudal Quick-Step Development, the 15th edition of the Tour had a strong line-up. Team BIKE AID with its three new riders demonstrated its strength on the first joint tour, across eight stages, more than 1130 kilometres, and over 21,000 metres of altitude through the land of a thousand hills.
Despite falls and faults in various stages and being one rider down following the early loss of Wesley Mol, at times the team managed to have two riders in the top ten. Before the final stage, the team’s new signing Eric Muhoza was in a promising position just eight seconds off the top of the overall rankings. Unfortunately, a previous technical fault thwarted the dream of home success for this Rwandan talent on the Saarland team. He was nevertheless able to secure the jersey for the best Rwandan rider.
Team colleague Dawit Yemane was narrowly pipped to the winners’ podium just 200 metres from the finish line, when he was caught by five riders and the subsequent overall winner and BIKE AID rider Henok Mulubrhan after a solo breakaway attempt. The Eritrean ultimately came an impressive seventh in the final classification.
With Oliver Mattheis and Francis Juneau, who provided Dawit and Eric with energetic support across the eight stages, the newly formed team was able to clearly show that they can compete at the highest level and gain wins.
The season has just begun, and the young, eager team will soon have their next opportunity to demonstrate their potential and continue developing. They will most likely next be found at the starting line of the ‘Volta ao Alentejo’ in Portugal, on 22-26/03/2023.
We continue to wish them the best of luck and every success.