Itamar Einhorn sprints to victory in Tour du Rwanda opening stage

Itamar Einhorn took the opening stage of the Tour du Rwanda. The Israeli rider from NSN Cycling, racing this week for the development team, was the fastest in a bunch sprint.

Racing on Sunday wasn’t limited to European soil, as some six thousand kilometers away in Rukomo, the eighteenth edition of the Tour du Rwanda kicked off. This 2.1 race doesn’t feature any WorldTour or ProTeams at the start, but with several continental teams—including Picnic PostNL and Lotto-Intermarché—as well as a number of Dutch and Belgian riders, it is an interesting race to follow in several respects.

The first stage was definitely not flat as a billiard table, but also not truly demanding, so a (mass) sprint was certainly on the cards. Early breakaway riders Miguel Heidemann (REMBE | rad-net) and Gabriel Sousa Silva (Localiza Meoo / Swift) nearly avoided that sprint, but were caught right at the end. In the sprint that followed, Einhorn proved the fastest.

Einhorn defeated Hodei Muñoz (Soudal Quick-Step Devo) and Mewael Girmay (Istanbul Team), the 20-year-old younger brother of Biniam Girmay. Dutchman Christiaan van Rees (Development Team Picnic PostNL) finished fifth.