TotalEnergies star rider Fabien Doubey has attributed his Tour du Rwanda 2025 victory to his teammates without whom he wouldn’t have achieved the glory in Kigali. The Frenchman was declared Tour du Rwanda winner by main sponsor Amstel, based on the general classification results from Stage 6, which took place on Saturday, March 1, from Nyanza to Canal Olympia (Rebero). His victory was confirmed after the seventh stage, originally scheduled for 72km starting from the Kigali Convention Centre (KCC), was cancelled due to severe weather conditions. “Our team did a great job. It wasn’t easy to ride through this country’s weather conditions for us, but as a team, we persevered,” Doubey said after the victory at Kigali Convention Center. ALSO READ: Araya wins stage 6, Doubey retains yellow jersey Bad weather gets final stage canceled Doubey and his team are said to have protested against competing citing bad weather conditions behind their motive. Their claims didn’t go well with their rivals, especially Eritrea and their main man Henok Mulubrhan, who was trialing Boubey by just 6 seconds prior to the last stage. But the Frenchman insisted that it wasn’t friendly for him to continues to race. This came after heavy rain began around 11:30 AM, before the scheduled 12 PM start of the final stage. While the initial rain was not heavy enough to get the race canceled, conditions worsened during the first lap. Originally, the 72km stage was to include a large circuit, but due to the rain, the route was shortened to four laps of a smaller circuit. This revised route excluded Nyabugogo, Norvege, Kimisagara, and Kwa Mutwe which already had slippery routes according to UCI officials. The new route included: KCC (Start) heading to Gishushu, continuing past the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) building, then beside the MTN headquarters, heading to ‘Kabuga ka Nyarutarama’, continuing to UTEXRWA road, Tennis Club road, Frontier, Gold Club (running route), back to SOS, MINAGRI, Meridien, Kimicanga, Kimihurura, Kabindi, KABC, and KCC (End). However, as the peloton approached the third lap, the rain intensified, forcing UCI officials to abandon the race. Article 2 of UCI regulations states that, “in case of an exceptional accident or incident that could impinge upon the normal conduct of the race in general or a particular stage thereof, the race director may, after obtaining the agreement of the commissioner’s panel and having informed the timekeepers, at any moment, decide to cancel a race or a stage.” This is the very same article that the UCI officials referred to before deciding to cancel the seventh and final stage of Tour du Rwanda. Consequently, the final results were determined based on the Stage 6 general classification. Doubey was definitely excited to win his first Tour du Rwanda and is already shifting focus on the UCI Road World Championship which is scheduled in September in Kigali. “I’m going to prepare for the world championship, so let’s see what’s next in September,” the 31-year-old said. ALSO READ:UCI Development Satellite: A gateway to global competitions for Rwandan athletes The 17th edition saw a strong performance from Rwandan rider Vainqueur Masengesho (Team Rwanda), who finished seventh overall, 51 seconds behind Doubey. Other Rwandan riders also received recognition: Shemu Nsengiyumva (Java-InovoTec) won the best climber award, and Samuel Niyonkuru (Team Amani) was awarded the best breakaway rider. Rwandan Minister of Sports Nelly Mukazayire was among the guests who awarded the winners at Tour du Rwanda 2025 awarding ceremony. She said, despite the last-minute interruptions associated with weather conditions, the race has met expectations. “We were well prepared to host this Tour du Rwanda, which also demonstrates our readiness for the UCI World Championships in September. Rwandan riders performed well to be among the top 10, which indicates there is still an opportunity for further cycling development in Rwanda,” she said. Mukazayire concluded that the preparations for the UCI World Championships are progressing well and that the weather situation that led to the cancellation of the last stage also provides valuable lessons for the preparations. “Alongside preparing and hosting various major sports events at continental and world levels, we are also preparing top athletes to win trophies in these competitions,” she said.
