With just eleven days left to the highly anticipated 9th edition of Tour du Rwanda, teams from around the world are getting through the final paces ahead of the competition, while others are announcing their rosters.
2017 Tour du Rwanda stages
Nov. 12: Prologue: 3.3km
Nov. 13: Stage 1 Kigali-Huye 120.3km+ 4 categorized climbs
Nov. 14: Stage 2 Nyanza- Rubavu 180km+ 6 categorized climbs
Nov. 15: Stage 3 Rubavu-Musanze 95km+ 1 massive categorized climb
Nov. 16: Stage 4 Musanze-Nyamata 121km+ 4 categorized climbs
Nov. 17: Stage 5 Nyamata-Rwamagana 93.1km+ 3 categorized climbs
Nov. 18: Stage 6 Kayonza-Kigali 86.3km+ 4 categorized climbs (including the infamous "Mur de Kigali”)
Nov. 19: Stage 7 Kigali-Kigali 120km+ 10 categorized climbs (one per lap of the circuit)
With just eleven days left to the highly anticipated 9th edition of Tour du Rwanda, teams from around the world are getting through the final paces ahead of the competition, while others are announcing their rosters.
This year’s edition will get underway from November 12 to 19 attracting a total of 17 teams including six national teams, six UCI Continental teams and five club teams.
Canada’s LowestRates.ca Cycling Team will make their second appearance following an outstanding debut last year.
On Tuesday, the club confirmed a roster of five riders that will be vying for their first Tour du Rwanda glory.
The team will be led by Cameron McPhaden also known as the master of the groupetto, Jules Cusson-Fradet, Stephen Keeping, Edward Greene and Brett Wachtendorf also known as the climbing specialist.
"As the last formal event for team LowestRates on the 2017 calendar, my teammates and I have been doing some serious preparatory work to be able to light some fireworks before hanging up our racing wheels for the season,” Cameron McPhaden was quoted as saying in a statement released on the club’s website.
He added; "Our motivation for this year is to live up to the reputation we established during last year’s race, taking the win in two of the eight stages in Rwanda. It won’t be easy, but it can certainly be done, especially with the work that Brett and Ed have been putting in the mountains. The three of us domestiques will be fetching bottles, keeping our leaders safe in the pack, and dealing with any riffraff that tries to disturb the day’s plan,” Cameron said.
Last year, the team impressed on their debut winning a total of two victories that included the prologue race and stage three (Karongi-Rusizi) all courtesy of Rugg Timothy who later joined German UCI Continental team Bike Aid.
They finished in the fourth place in the general team classification out of 12 teams behind Dimension Data for Qhubeka, Ethiopia and Team Rwanda.
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