Restrepo 2nd and Gomez 5th in the ascent of Mount Kigali, the Tour du Rwanda is still open

Another second place in a tightly contested sprint at over 1500 a.s.l. for Jhonatan Restrepo, who in the 6th stage of the Tour du Rwanda finds himself climbing Mount Kigali alongside the usual splendid German Gomez and three other riders, including the young Englishman Blackmore who won and wore the yellow jersey.

After yesterday’s ITT the race started from the same Musanze and headed this time towards the Rwandan capital. Team Polti Kometa was among the quickest to respond to the numerous attacks on this short day, mainly led by Israel Premier Tech. The ups and downs of Kivuruga and Gako reduced the main group to five units, also cutting out the previous leader Lecerf, until the final climb brought Restrepo to the sprint and Gomez to fifth place.

A truly well-matched Colombian pair, who commented on the race as follows:
Jhonatan Restrepo (3rd in GC 13” behind Blackmore and 2” behind the Kazakh Dostiyev) “I only missed the last ten meters, I thank Germán for the tremendous work and also Andrea Garosio and Manuel Peñalver because they were fundamental in holding us in the peloton during the numerous escape attempts in the first part of today’s route.”
German Gomez (5th in GC one minute behind Blackmore) “That’s cycling, it was nice to work together as a family to aim for the big target and we are happy with the condition shown in such a tough stage.”

This is the same feeling expressed by the sports director Biagio Conte: “The progress of the race makes us happy! The altitude fatigue is felt but the legs are all there and today we also responded well to a tough finish, well done Jhonatan and our boys, and congratulations to the guy from Israel. Tomorrow we have the longest stage (the only one over 150 km) but less challenging and more suitable for resilient sprinters: for the GC we look ahead to the explosive Sunday that will decide the Tour du Rwanda.”