00:00The 18th edition of the Tour de Rwanda kicked off in Rukomo on Sunday, with 84 cyclists taking on the
00:07first stage.
00:09Israel's Itamar Einhorn claimed the competition's first yellow jersey with a finish time of 4 hours and 5 seconds.
00:18He narrowly beat Spain's Jode Munoz, who came second.
00:22The opening stage is the longest of eight, covering 173 kilometres and rising by more than 2,000 metres.
00:33I will help my guys, my teammates, to have the yellow jersey the rest of the week.
00:39I will wear it proudly tomorrow, and then we continue for the climbs.
00:44But the day was marred by tragedy.
00:47Two spectators were killed and six injured when a vehicle lost control in rainy conditions near the town of Gebiru.
00:54It's a major blow for the increasingly popular event.
00:58We've received a lot of interest of people wanting to come in Tour de Rwanda, more than we did in
01:05the past.
01:05And that shows, for me, automatically shows that people have noticed that we're here,
01:09that Rwanda has everything for road cycling, competitions.
01:13So Tour de Rwanda is an opportunity that I can hear down UCI calendar.
01:17The eight-day cycling race will once again traverse different routes across the country.
01:22A number of 18 teams have confirmed participation.
01:25My name is Diana Iriza, in Kigali, Rwanda, for African News.
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