Bright Emmanuel overturns the odds on stage one!
With two former champions of the Fundsmith Tour de Lunsar alone at the head of the race, with over 2 minutes of advantage and just 15km to go, it seemed like this opening stage would surely be won by one of two names: Preye John Dede (Team Iluburin) or Ibrahim Jalloh (Lunsar Cycling Team X).
And then something remarkable happened.
In the gap behind for most of the day, Dede’s teammate Bright Emmanuel had been busy securing the third place points at both intermediates.
Jalloh was able to cleanly oputsprint Dede for the Zwift sprint at Masiaka, while the Bikmo king of the mountains was a much closer affair, before being called in favour of Jalloh again.
Emmanuel had been riding alone, and at times not that far ahead of the front of the peloton. It was only after the Bikmo KOM at Okra Hill that Emmanuel was joined by Alusine Conteh of Flames – and it was this two-man TT team that began taking chunks out of Dede and Jalloh’s lead.
At Rogberi Junction, it still seemed the leaders were cruising toward a two-man showdown, but by the time they hit Lunsar it was a group of four riders in the mix for the stage victory and first day’s race lead.
As the quartet closed on the line it was Dede who was first to fade, with Jalloh fighting hard to maintain parity with Emmanuel charging hard up the right hand side.
Finally, Emmanuel crossed the line ahead by.a whisker, with Jalloh in second, and Alusine Conteh taking the third spot.
Headed into tomorrow, Ibrahim Jalloh leads the Zwift sprints competition and the Bikmo climbers’ classification, while the Fundsmith yellow jersey will be worn by Bright Emmanuel.
Check the full results, or relive the action with photo galleries from Matt Grayson and Abdul Hamid Kanu below.
