Erythrin Henok Mulluberhan hits a double in the third leg of the Tour of Rwanda

Henok Mulubrhan (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) won the third stage of the Tour of Rwanda (2.1) on Tuesday after 199.5km between Huye and Musanze. The Eritrean beat William Jr. Leserve (Team Soudal Fast Step Deveaux) in the sprint and took the overall lead.

The stage offered six runway climbs and descents of 3,300 metres. Mouloperhan was part of a chase group that caught the last survivor of the early breakaway, New Zealander James Foucher (Bolton Equities Black Spoke), over the final climb (2.8km at 6 per cent). Eritrean Leserv and Ukrainian Anatoly Budyak (Terengganu Polygon) emerged from this group to battle for victory in the sprint, with Mulloberhan snatching victory after finishing third in the opening stage and second on Monday. He dethroned Britain’s Ethan Vernon (Team Soudal Quick-Step DeVoe), winner of the first two stages, at the top of the overall standings.

On Wednesday, the fourth stage will link Musanze to Karongi (138.5km) with four climbs on the programme. The Rwanda tour ends on Sunday.

Chris Froome leads the Tour of Rwanda with his Israel-Premier Tech team, the only World Tour team to start the race. The team has built a project in the country and therefore wants to support the development of cycling on the African continent.

Some professional continental teams are also enriching the peloton for the 15th edition of the Tour du Rwanda, including TotalEnergies and the Q36.5 Pro cycling team, joined by the EF Education-EasyPost and Soudal Quick-Step development teams. The latter took three Belgians into the race to accompany Ethan Vernon, who was already accustomed to the professional peloton. Many African teams also have the opportunity to brag.