Coming into form on Stage 5 at Tour du Rwanda

Race: Tour du Rwanda – Stage 5

Start/Finish: Rubayu/ Musanze, Rwanda

Distance: 84.7 kilometers

Sam Brand (GBR—Isle of Man)

I had been looking forward to this stage for a while, a long time even before the race. Today is also my birthday, so it was quite a special day for me!

The stage had a nice 20-kilometer gradual climb, which is something that suited me. I felt really good; I had the best legs I’ve had so far at the Tour du Rwanda.

I stayed on the front with David [Lozano] helping him to the finish and achieve our best result to date this season. I was also able to be up there on the front line of the final sprint.

We are happy with our performance and results today. It gave us a bit of a boost within the team and helped us keep building confidence in our form.

David Lozano (ESP)

Stage 5 was a hard stage because it was a short one with lots of attacks throughout all the climbs.

Our team raced well. I had been in the front with Sam, working together and helping each other very well throughout the stage. In the last kilometers, I tried to sprint, but I had a guy in front who kept opening and closing the gap, and I couldn’t sprint as I wished.

Tomorrow is going to be hard again, but I think it is a stage that fits Sam well. Looking at how he did today, we might expect a breakaway from him. Let’s see!

Next Up:

On Friday, the world’s first all-diabetes professional cycling team will continue to show what’s possible with diabetes on Stage 6 at the Tour du Rwanda with a 127.3-km race that starts in Musanze and finishes in Muhanga.