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Tour du Rwanda. Stage 4. Yuriy Natarov is 10th, Merhawi Kudus keeps the lead after short and intense stage
After yesterday’s very long and very hard mountain stage, today the riders of the Tour du Rwanda have faced a very short (just 103 km), but super intense stage 4 with four categorized climbs. In the end of the day, the young Kazakh rider of Astana Pro Team Yuriy Natarov was able to finish 10th in this stage, while Merhawi Kudus without big problems kept his leadership in the general classification of the race.
- Today’s stage was short and hard one. We expected many attacks during this day since at this short distance a lot of riders want to try something. In a moment there was a group of more than 25 riders in front. But, our team did a great job and my teammates had a good control over the race. After yesterday stage I had a comfortable advantage in the overall standings, so today we did not have any worry about the yellow jersey. So, supporting by my teammates I was able to defend and to extend my lead for one more day, - said Merhawi Kudus.
The fourth stage of the race has started in Rubavu and finished Karongi. The stage was plenty of attacks and breakaway tentative. Finally, a group of around 20 riders was able to stay clear in front and to play this stage victory, taken by the Colombian rider Edwin Avila. The young Kazakh rider Yuriy Natarov was very active during the stage and he finished 10th.
The stage did not introduce any changes in the first four positions of the general classification: Astana’s Merhawi Kudus still leads the race having 17 seconds on Rein Taaramae, 45 seconds on Matteo Badilatti and 1 minute on Hernan Aguirre.
Astana holds the lead in team’s classification.
Stage 5 will be held tomorrow: 138.7 km from Karongi to Musanze.
Photo credit: ©Tour du Rwanda
