The race began on January 18, 2016 with the first lap run between Kango and the historic town of Lambarene.
The 11th edition of the cycling tour of Gabon christened, Tropical Amissa Bongo kicked off yesterday January 18, 2016 with the first lap run between Kango and the historic city of Lambarene. Six Cameroonians are taking part in the seven-lap race which will serve as preparation for the upcoming International cycling tour of Cameroon. They comprise Clovis Kamzong Abessolo, Geremie Nzeke, Nlontsi Yemeli Yannick, Mbah Herve Raoul, Yemeli Pichele and team captain Tekou Foukou Damien. However Cameroon’s hope for a place on the podium depends on the bearer of the yellow jersey of the cycling tour of Cameroon, Clovis Kamzong Abessolo alias ‘Espistolero’.
All the Cameroonian representatives to the competition attest to the fact that the preparation has been better this year than in the past decade when they just had to train for the few days to the beginning of the competition. This time they were in camp for over a month and their participation bonuses were paid prior to their departure last Saturday to the tune of FCA 700.000. The President of the Federation, Honore Yossi has put aside a special prize of FCA 500,000 if a Cameroonian should win the lap that makes an incursion in Cameroon to be run between Oyem and Ambam. Fourteen teams from Africa and Europe are taking part in the competition.
The second lap of the race will take place today between Fougamou and Mouila. The third lap will be on Wednesday between Lambarene which will be receiving the race Caravan for the second time and Ndjole. The fourth lap will be the most important for Cameroon as it will witness the presence of Cameroon’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education and probably his Gabonese counterpart.
The fifth lap will also be pregnant with meaning as the kick off will take place at the junction of three frontiers; Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon to depict sub regional solidarity. The 6th lap will be a criterion which is becoming habitual for cycling races in Africa between Akanda and stade l’Amitie and the climax will be on Sunday, January 24th with the last lap to be run between Cap Esterias and the capital city of Libreville.
