William Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep Devo) won the fourth stage at the Tour du Rwanda, winning the reduced group sprint into Rubavu. Lecerf crossed the line first ahead of previous day’s stage winner Jhonatan Restrepo (Team Polti Kometa) and Julien Simon (TotalEnergies).
“It feels incredible to win in the pro ranks at one of my favourite races. I knew I was in good shape after the solid week I had with the WorldTour squad at the AlUla Tour, and the confidence was high after that result and the excellent start we had here in Rwanda,” Lecerf said.
“I have no words to tell you what this first victory means to me, but what I can do is say a big thanks to my Soudal Quick-Step Devo teammates, who worked hard the entire day, controlled the break and all the attacks that came late into the race, and without whom this incredible moment wouldn’t have been possible.”
Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-QuickStep Devo) maintained his overall lead and will wear the leader’s jersey into stage 5 but is tied on time with both Lecerf and Restrepo.
The fourth stage was 93km between Karongi and Rubavu, and included five categorised climbs, with the toughest, a 12km category 1 ascent over Kinhria and then roughly 30km to go.
Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) emerged as an early breakaway rider, and while he gained 1:30, the gap was cut drastically in the last half of the stage. Attacks from the field came from Didier Munyaneza (Team Rwanda), followed by Brieuc Rolland (Equipe Continentale Groupama-FDJ).
Rolland caught and passed Latour, who was swallowed up by the field, and the Frenchman carried on alone with a slim lead inside 15km to go.
The field came back together in the closing kilometres for a reduced sprint won by Lecerf.
BREAKING: Victoire de William Lecerf! @LecerfJunior from @SoudalQSdevTeam Wins Stage 4 of #TdRwanda2024 in @RubavuDistrict the home of @AmstelMaltRw pic.twitter.com/v9jgy4N3mqFebruary 21, 2024
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