Nathan Byukusenge is Team Rwanda’s hope

Team Rwanda riders will have to make significant improvement in the remaining three stages if they are to repeat or improve last year’s 7th place finish in the ongoing UCI La Tropicale Amissa Bongo cycling race in Gabon.The team led by skipper Nathan Byukusenge ended stage three on Wednesday in 12th position out of 15 teams taking part in the first UCI race on the African calendar.Eritrea’s Team ERYTHREE is head of the pack in the general classification in a time of 26h32’55’’, followed by LOTTO BELISOL (Bel) and COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS (Bel). Team Rwanda has used 26h40’01’’ 07’06’’ thanks in part to Byukusenge, who was still with the leading pack going into stage four on Thursday.The experienced rider, who was also part of the team that finished seventh last year, made a good start on stage one, finishing in a respectable 32nd position and stage two was even better for the Team Rwanda captain, coming in 22nd however, stage three didn’t go well for him as he dropped 26 places to 48th position. Belgian Gért DOCKX won the 110km stage three, clocking 02h25’54’’ 10’’ while stage two belonged to Italian Andrea Francesco PALINI 02h34’51’’ 10’’, who also leads the general classification ranking after having used 08h50’17’’.Debutant Hassan Rukundo, who has also made significant progress since the opening stage, is currently sitting in 20th place on the list of best young riders.

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Nathan Byukusenge is Team Rwanda’s hope