25th February – Stage 2: Kigali – Musanze
Racing in Rwanda continued on Tuesday with a 112 kilometre long stage from Kigali to Musanze. Tackling three climbs and spending several kilometres over 2000 metres in altitude it was set to be a challenging day in the saddle, as the sun beat down over the peloton. The team once again worked well as a unit as the day progressed, looking after each other and trying to shake up the race on the climbs. However, a headwind on the ascents made this more difficult to do so the stage would come down to a reduced group sprint. Following on from the seventh place the previous day, Oliver Peace produced a good turn of speed once more after being well positioned by the team to take a fine fifth place on the stage.
Speaking at the finish Peace expressed: “It was another hot day in the mountains. We rode well again as a team and got involved on the penultimate climb as well as the final climb where we tried to open the race. It was a little bit too much of a headwind to split it on the last climb so it came down to a super fast sprint after the descent. Jacob moved me up in the last kilometre and then I tried to come round in the final few hundred metres but it was just a bit too fast.”
24th February – Stage 1: Rukomo – Kayonza
After Sunday’s prologue, the Tour du Rwanda continued with a rolling first stage, which on paper looked like one for the sprinters. Four riders formed the break of the day, while the riders from Team Picnic PostNL’s Development Program stayed together in the peloton and tried to put the pressure on in the uphill sections. As the finish drew closer, the break started to fall apart, with the last attacker caught three kilometers from the line. From there, the fast men took over, with African champion Mulubrhan ultimately taking the win. Oliver Peace was the first Team Picnic PostNL rider across the line, finishing in a strong seventh place. Pavel Sumpik also finished in the bunch and took over the lead in the young rider classification.
After the stage Peace said: “It was a super hot first day, and we worked well together as a team for most of the stage. As the race heated up, Mees, Juan, and I took turns attacking on the final few climbs, with Pavel and Jacob sitting in. Everything stayed together until the last climb, where I found a gap with about 550 meters to go and tried to lead Pavel out. He didn’t quite have the legs to follow, so I pushed on to the line and didn’t lose to many places.”
23rd February – Prologue: BK Arena – Amahoro Stadium
The Tour du Rwanda got underway on Sunday with a short three and a half kilometres long prologue in Kigali. Without much elevation, it would be a test of power and cornering ability. Team Picnic PostNL all left the start ramp with the goal of giving their all, with solid times set by each member of the squad throughout the run. It would be penultimate rider to go for the team, Pavel Sumpik, who set the team’s best time – stopping the clock at the finish in three minutes and 55 seconds – an effort that secured sixth place come the end of the day.
Sumpik expressed: “Today’s prologue was hard. It was only over three kilometres but it was still really important to have a good pacing plan. As I stared in the second part of the start list, my teammates told me some information for that and some other bits about the course, so I’m really happy that I was able to show my part on the road. It is so nice to see that everything is going well already in my first start in Team Picnic PostNL colours. For the next stages I hope we can continue to work well together here and it would be great to get some more nice stage results.”
