One day after his first win of the year on stage 1 of the Tropicale Amissa Bongo, Rafaa Chtioui (SkyDive Dubai) made it two in a row when he also won the second stage of Africa’s biggest bike race. After an early break had been caught, the race leader attacked with 2km to go and managed to hold off the sprinters to win the stage and extend his overall lead.

Yesterday Rafaa Chtioui took an impressive solo win in the opening stage of the Tropicale Amissa Bongo but his win was slightly blighted by the fact that the peloton had taken the wrong way, giving Chtioui’s break a big advantage. Today he proved that the win was no fluke though when he showed impressive strength to add stage 2 to his palmares.

After an early break had been caught by Chtioui’s Skydive Dubai team inside the final 10km, Chtioui made a brave move on a small climb with 2km to go. The strong Tunisian managed to hold off the peloton and take his second win of the race while Yohann Gene (Europcar) beat Tesfom Okubamariam (Eritrea) in the sprint for second.

After the short and hilly opener, the race continued with a 170km stage from Okandja to Franceville and despite a generally rolling terrain, the stage was much easier than the opening one. However, a tough climb with 2km to go was expected to take the sting out of the legs for the sprinters.

Again the riders took the start under beautiful sunshine and like yesterday the riders were off to a fast start. It took some time for the early break to be established by finally Clint Hendricks (South Africa), Janvier Hadi (Rwanda) and Herve Yemeli (Cameron) managed to get clear.

After 25km of racing, they had an advantage of 2.50 and they managed to extend it to four minutes at the 50km mark. At this point, Hadi had beaten Yemeli and Hendricks in the KOM sprint.

The SkyDive Dubai team hit the front and kept the gap stable around the 4-minute mark for most of the day. Meanwhile, the hard terrain took its toll on Yemeli who got dropped from the breakaway.

Hadi and Hendricks pressed on but they saw their advantage come down. With 55km to go, they were only 2.40 ahead and with 30km to go, their gap was down to 1.30.

With 20km to go, Hadi distanced Hendricks while Skydive continued to ride hard on the front. However, they couldn’t prevent Azzedine Lagab (Algeria) from attacking and he managed to bridge across to Hadi with 10km to go.

With 9km to go, the duo were still 55 seconds ahead and with 4km to go, their advantage was still 35 seconds. The final climb, however, ended their chances and instead Chtioui launched the move that gave him the win.

With the victory, Chtioui extended his overall lead and he now goes into stage 3 in a good position. However, he faces a tough challenge tomorrow which is the day of the queen stage. The first 75km contain several hard climb but as the final half is mostly descending and flat, there is time for a regrouping to take place.