It’s no surprise the cobblers are the organizer’s favourites.
There were some attacks, but no group was let go so everything’s back together when the peloton reaches the cobbles for the first time – not entirely everything as the first riders are already dropped here. It’s gonna be a long day for those unlucky ones.
Just when it looked like there wouldn’t be any break today the next attacks began and now the peloton wasn’t so keen to chase the attackers down. At the moment a group of four including Matthews, Batmunkh, De Bondt and Sa. Kuroeda is the front of the race with another group of four chasing 30’’ behind, consisting of Grand, Verwilst, Kireva and Habimana. This group has 1’45 to the peloton, but it will be hard for them to make it to the front and stay there on the cobbles.
No, we’ve not skipped to the final. The first two groups have merged and are now on the cobbled sector for the third time out of the eight times they’ll have to tackle it. But it also gives us the chance to have a look at the final of the race already. It’s still 90 km to go and the peloton is 4 minutes behind.
Round 4 is over and the gap is down to 3’18. There was a first short-lived split in the peloton, so the favourites already have to be attentive.
On the fifth encounter of the final passage the break begins to crumble apart, we’ll see if they get back together. A peloton of 76 is 2’50 behind.
When the cobbles are tackled for the third to last time Verwilst is out in the front solo, but his gap is already declining as he’s been there on his own for some time. Sa. Kuroeda, Grand, Matthews and De Bondt are chasing, the other three former escapees are already caught. In the background Ringheim attacks from the pack.
After the sector the Norwegian is the race leader with Trentin chasing. The gaps are still small though.
Spengler, Summerhill, Theuns and Debesay used the short hills after the cobbles to get to Ringheim. 28’’ behind is a first group of 10, another 19’’ behind are the remnants of the peloton.
The attack doesn’t last, so a peloton of 42 enters the cobbles for the penultimate time.
Once again the attacks only started in the hilly part after the cobbles, this time Summerhill and Owen are on the move and have a gap of 25’’ to the remaining peloton of 16. The biggest names missing there are Ringheim, Lampaert, Owen, Trentin and Richardson.
Stallaert bridged to the two leaders to form a threesome. They have 35’’ to the peloton with 7 km to go.
The three attackers are still 42’’ in front when they enter the cobbles for the final time. It’s still 2.6 km to go and the finish is uphill, so there’s still a chance they’ll be caught, but they clearly have a good advantage right now.
Under the kite Summerhill and Gaday seem to have a little advantage over Stallaert, but it’s still a long way (figuratively speaking, of course it’s literally only 1 km). The first chasers are only 25’’ behind and consist of Bohli, Daniel, Debesay, Van Hooydonck, David and Zepuntke. The rest of the former peloton is further behind.
It’s a bit messy now with lots of lapped riders all around the place, so don’t wonder when those are just ignored.
With 500 m to go Summerhill is in front of Gaday who looks already spent. Stallaert still looks good though. Debesay and Bohli are the first chasers 19’’ behind, Daniel is the next one with a gap of 9’’. Another 8’’ behind Theuns is on the move forward, already leading the remnants of the former group of 6. But it’s probably too late for the Belgian to get a top result.
And in the end Summerhill stays in front and takes his third win in Kigali after 2015 and 2016! Stallaert comes in second in his team’s home race.
Debesay completes the great day for African cycling with the final podium spot. Theuns was fast indeed and finishes in 4th followed by Bohli and Gaday who’s clearly the best CT rider here.
The next group consists of Daniel, Van Hooydonck, Van Keirsbulck, David, Jacobs and Zepuntke in 7th to 12th place.
Sh. Kuroeda, Gamper and Chatarunga complete the Top 15.
[C1] GP Kigali 
