Tough circuits wrap in bunch sprint on stage one at Tour du Rwanda

David Lozano:

“It was actually tougher than expected today even if the outcome wasn’t a surprise, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but the circuits were hard at the end. There were a lot of attacks popping all the time which means a lot of tired legs out there with the repeated accelerations and after yesterday’s short prologue it was quite fatiguing today.”

“We wanted to look after Umberto and give him a chance to have a crack at the sprint because he’s our fastest guy here for this kind of finish. But we know from previous year’s here that the altitude can have an effect if you’re not used to it and I think we will acclimatize over the coming days.”

Sports Director Gennady Mikhaylov:

“Today’s opening stage unfolded pretty much as we thought it would, but it was quite hectic throughout. Once the early break went there were some attacks and we tried to keep ourselves together to shelter Umberto with the intention of keeping him near the front to try and have a go in the sprint. We don’t have a pure sprinter here and it was always going to be challenging going up against the fast guys.”

“After the break was caught it came down to the anticipated finale for the sprinters and unfortunately Umberto was involved in a small crash and missed the chance to sprint., he’s ok and finished the stage. It fragmented a little at the end as the attacks started to fly again, but David kept himself up there and managed to finish with the front runners and we look ahead to tomorrow’s stage now and another tough day coming up.”