Dimension Data for Qhubeka had earmarked Tuesday's stage 2 of the Tour of Rwanda as their opportunity to go on the offensive, but the South African Continental team took control of the race a day earlier than anticipated after Joseph Areruya's solo victory in Huye on stage 1.
Areruya, 21, now holds a commanding lead of 1:28 minutes over 2015 champion Jean Bosco Nsengimana (Rwanda), while Valens Ndayisenga (Tirol Cycling Team) – overall winner a year ago in Dimension Data colours – lies third at 1:30.
"It wasn't really our plan for our guys to go out on the attack," Dimension Data for Qhubeka directeur sportif Andrew Smith told Cyclingnews and RFI during the podium celebrations in Huye. "We thought that we would let the team that is leading, Team Rwanda, do the work, and try to defend the jersey. It actually worked out very well for us."
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A stage winner in Huye last year and wearer of the yellow jersey for the day, Areruya has also finished fourth (2016) and second (2015) overall in his national tour, and claimed a stage win at the Girobio this season. Areruya's knowledge of the challenging terrain around Huye meant that it was no surprise to see Rwanda's first winner of a UCI race in Europe exploit his strengths on home roads. Along with the stage and classification leads, Areruya's reward for his panache is total backing from his team in his bid for the victory.
"Tomorrow is a very important stage so we tried to save some energy and in the end, Joseph took a very good opportunity and made the most of it," Smith said of the longest day of the 2.2 Tour of Rwanda in 2017 at 180 kilometres. "I think it is always nice for the Rwandan riders to win in Rwanda and, for now, we will be 100 per cent behind Joseph."
Created in 2016 as the feeder team to WorldTour squad Dimension Data, the five UCI wins in the Continental team's first year all came in Rwanda: the national road title with Bonaventure Uwizeyimana, two stages and the Tour of Rwanda overall with Ndayisenga, and an additional stage with Metkel Eyob.
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