The 20-year-old Rwandan won the final classement of the 10th edition of the Tour du Rwanda, the last leg of which went to the Algerian Azzedine Lagab.
Samuel Mugisha resisted until the last kilometer today during the final stage of the Tour du Rwanda.
At 20, the Rwandan is the youngest winner of the history of the race which celebrated this year its ten years of existence.
He has kept his yellow jersey since the second stage in Huye and he defended his property with great control thanks to a national team from Rwanda who supported him non-stop every day.
His last serious rival today in the general classement was his compatriot Jean-Claude Uwizeye who has been racing with Valens Ndayisenga since this season in a French team, the POC Côte de Lumière, and who worried him until the last moment.
Despite his young age, Samuel Mugisha was able to benefit from his experience gained in the professional level he joined since the beginning of this season in the team Dimension Data for Qhubeka based in Italy but which is in fact the team development of the South African World Tour Team of Mark Cavendish.
The young Rwandan rider has had a very good spring on the races in Europe, shining on the difficult roads of the Tour of Valle d’Aosta in Italy, which brings together all the best riders in the U23 category.
He thus won the first place of the climber classification, a great performance against the rivals on these mountain passes of the Italian Alps.
Samuel Mugisha also won at the start of the season a stage of the Nations Cup in Cameroon, the equivalent for Africa of the Tour de l’Avenir, for which the national team of Rwanda had won his selection thanks to Joseph Areruya the final winner but also to the stage victory of Samuel Mugisha.
This is the fifth year continuosly that a Rwandan rider has won the Tour du Rwanda, Samuel Mugisha succeeds Joseph Areruya winner in 2017, Valens Ndayisenga in 2014 and 2016 and Jean-Bosco Nsengimana in 2015.
The last step today was won by Algerian Azzedine Lagab (he won also the 1st stage) on a difficult route in the streets of Kigali with two passages of the famous Kigali Wall, so called in reference to the Koppenberg of Tour of Flanders.
Its cobbelstones and its high percentage make it now one of the great attractions of the Tour du Rwanda which will change category in 2019 to pass in UCI 2.1, which will make this event the most important of the African continental calendar in the same level as the Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon with the possibility of hosting professional teams accustomed to the Tour de France.
The french Team Direct Energie team with his champion Lilian Calmejane, winner of stages in the Tour de France and the Tour of Spain has already announced that it will be present at the Tour of Rwanda next February.
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