Sam Coleman, the 19-year-old just out of the junior ranks, has been praised by his Israel Premier Tech manager - a Tour de France stage winner - for his role in securing the team a second stage win today at Tour du Rwanda (UCI 2.1).
The victory went to Australian rider Bradley Gilmore, who was hitting the spot for the second day after the field split to pieces during the short and sharp 121lkm of racing into Gisenyi.
At the finish, the front bunch number just 19 riders, and only seven of those were credited with the same time was stage winner Gilmore.
Though Coleman lost time, finishing 56th at 11:36, he was deployed early in the stage to keep the breakaway under control and help reel it in on behalf of Gilmore and his lead-out support.
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Rubén Plaza is the team's sports director, a Tour de France stage winner and two-time Vuelta stage winner, and said he felt Coleman had really helped set the team up for the victory.
“I think that the whole team did an amazing job – from Sam [Coleman], the first guy pulling to control the break, to Moritz, who was the key for us today. He controlled the final 15 kilometers by himself.
“Then Brady did what he knows to do: a good sprint, and that was an amazing team victory. It is pretty impressive to win two stages from the first four. However, it’s a different race for the final three days, they are hard, so we will see what happens."
Coleman, who is signed to the Israel Premier Tech Development Team for this year is making his debut in Rwanda this week. The silver medal winner from the junior men's road race at the National Road Championships last year, he was 11th in the opening stage prologue TT at the weekend.
The team has now won two stages, and is targeting the overall, with Gilmore up to 4th overall and just six seconds behind race leader Fabien Doubey (Team TotalEnergies).
"We’ll have to wait and see," said double stage winner Gilmore when asked about his GC prospects. "But after today I’m pretty confident I know how to pace the climbs quite well. I’ve got a good gauge of how the other guys are climbing, too."
