Tour of Rwanda: Moritz Kretschy is the first German to win Africa's most important stage race

Moritz Kretschy is the first German to win the Tour of Rwanda. On the eighth and final stage, he defended his large lead in the overall classification on the course of the last Road World Championships in the capital Kigali. After eight days of racing and a distance of around 980 kilometres, the cyclist from the NSN Development Team was 2:08 minutes ahead of compatriot Johannes Adamietz (Team Rembe | rad-net). After his first victory in a professional race, the 23-year-old Kretschy, who comes from the Erzgebirge, said: "I came to this race as a helper for my team-mates, and in the end I finished in yellow. I don't know what to say."

Missed stage win, took overall lead

Kretschy was able to take a fairly relaxed approach to the final day, finishing at the back of a larger chasing group. He had taken the overall leader's yellow jersey at the end of the fourth stage when he rode away from a breakaway group on a mountain classification together with Mathijs de Clerq from the Soudal Quick-Step junior team. Although he lost the final sprint to the Belgian, who is around four years younger, he had a lead of almost two minutes over all his rivals in the overall classification at the end of the day. Kretschy received a lot of praise from his sporting director Lahav Davidzon for his performance in the tour: "He worked for Itamar for 150 kilometres on stage 1 and still had the strength and the overview to ride for the overall classification at the end. That says everything about his power, his race intelligence, his quiet confidence and his instincts." Kretschy's team-mates Itamar Einhorn (2) and Pau Martin also took three stage wins for the junior division of the World Tour team NSN. Continental teams and national teams took part in the UCI category 2.1 stage race, but no professional teams from the premier league of world cycling. For Kretschy, victory in the Tour du Rwanda could be the stepping stone to the premier league of cycling.

Successes for Rembe | rad-net

The trip to the centre of Africa was also a success for Rembe | rad-net, the only German team on the start list. Johannes Adamietz said at the end: "I'm super happy about second place. We were able to lay the foundation on stage 4, when Julian Borresch and I were in the breakaway group. It's just a shame that I missed Moritz Kretschy's attack there, otherwise I might have been able to make it a bit more exciting at the end," said the 27-year-old, who, unlike Kretschy, has already been racing as a World Tour pro for two years. The success of Team Rembe | rad-net was completed by 20-year-old Jermaine Zemke, son of former pro and sporting director Jens Zemke, as winner of stage 5 and veteran Miguel Heidemann as winner of the mountain jersey.