Saturday, Stage 7 - top three

1. Hicham Benouzza (MOR) 2:36:582. Matthias Legley (Bel) 2:36:583. Samuel Hakiruwizeye (Rwa) 2:36:58General Classification - top three1. Dieter Bouvry (Bel) 12:50:562. Louis Verhelst (Belg 12:51:223. Matthias Legley (Bel) 12:51:518. Samuel Hakiruwizeye 12:53:11

Team Classification

1. Regionale - Flanders Team2. Bai - Sicasal - Petro de Luanda3. Ivory Coast4. Morocco5. Rwanda

YOUNGSTER Samuel Hakiruwizeye was Rwanda’s best rider coming 8th in individual classification as Team Rwanda finished 5th in this year’s Tour de Côte d’Ivoire (Tour de la Reconciliation) that started September 10-16.

Stage 2 was annulled due to race mismanagement as the riders rode in a different route, hence reducing the race to six stages.

In stage 7 and the final stage of the 2.2 UCI category competition on Saturday, Hakiruwizeye put up an impressive performance to finish on third position in a fierce sprint finish alongside stage winner Hachim Benouzza of Morocco and Belgian Matthias Legley, who finished second.

The three riders covered the 105km distance from Abengourou to Adzopé using 2 hours, 36 minutes and 58 seconds. The race was Hakiruwizeye’s maiden international competition.

In team classification, Team Rwanda finished in the 5th place behind Belgium’s Regionale - Flanders Team (1), Angola’s Bai - Sicasal - Petro de Luanda (2) while hosts Ivory Coast and Morocco finished third and fourth, respectively.

Team Rwanda dropped two places from last year’s performance when they finished 3rd. In 2015, Rwanda topped the team classification.

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