Yellow Jersey changes hands again

ANOTHER day. Another stage winner and another Yellow Jersey winner. This was yesterday’s outcome of the 2013 Tour of Rwanda after Team MTN-Qhubeka’s Johann Zyl Van won Stage 4 from Musanze to Muhanga but South Africa National Team’s Dylan Girdlestone snatched the overall lead.Zyl Van covered the 128km in 3 hours 20 minutes and 8 seconds, four seconds ahead of his countryman Girdlestone, who however takes overall leader’s coveted Yellow Jersey from MTN-Qhubeka’s Jes Louis Meintjes.Team Rwanda Akagera’s Emile Bintunimana was fifth after clocking 3 hours 22 minutes and 38 seconds in a photo-finish ahead of Team AS. BE. CO’s Yemane Nereket.Belgian Thomas Debrabandere, who rides for Team Avia Crabbe clocked 3h 22 minutes and 38 seconds to take third place yesterday.Dubbed, the ‘Queen Stage’ of the 2013 Tour of Rwanda, the route lived up to its name as the riders tackled six mountains from Musanze (Northern Province) in an uphill battle to the finish in Muhanga (Southern Province).The 24-year- old Girdlestone, who was 3rd in the general classification coming into the 4th stage, takes the Leader jersey into today’s 5thstage after using a total time of 12h 37’ 00’’. Meintjes, who finished 21st yesterday in a time of 3h 22 minutes and 38 seconds, dropped to overall second with a time of 12h 39’ 10’’ while, the best climber until Thursday, Eyob Metket of Team AS CO BE, is third with 12h 39’ 18’’. Stage 4 winner, Zyl Van is 24th overall with 12h 47’49”.Team Karisimbi’s Jean Bosco Nsengiyumva, who is sixth in the general classification with a time of 12 hours 41 minutes and 48 seconds, continues to wear the White Jersey reserved for best Rwandan. He finished 14th yesterday.Competitive raceCompared to the previous years; Rwandan riders have made great improvement as they have already won two stages with Janvier Hadi winning the Prologue on day one at Amahoro stadium-Kimironko-Amahoro stadium.And 19-year-old Valens Ndayisenga became the youngest Rwandan rider to win any stage in Tour of Rwanda after he dramatically claimed stage two (Rwamagana-Musanze) on Tuesday.Last year, Rwandan riders did not win a single stage. Before this year, the last Rwandan rider to win a Tour of Rwanda stage was Joseph Biziyaremye during the 2011 edition.This year’s Tour of Rwanda is proving to be more competitive than the previous edition due to the fact that the Yellow Jersey has changed hands four times.Rwanda’s Hadi, MTN Qhubekha’s duo Thomson and Meintjes and now South Africa National Team’s Girdlestone, have donned it in stage 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively.In total, 16 teams from Africa, Europe and America are participating in this year’s race and each team has five riders. Rwanda is being represented by three teams, Karisimbi, Akagera and Muhabura.The African teams include; South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, Tanzania and Gabon.The professional teams are; Avia Crabbe (Belgium), Team Haute Savoie (France) and South Africa’s MTN-Qhubeka, which features Rwanda’s top professional rider Adrien Niyonshuti.Today, riders will compete in Stage five from Muhanga – Nyamagabe for a total of 102. 4km

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Yellow Jersey changes hands again