Three Cameroonians have the same time record as the first lap winner.
Cameroon got up to a good start at the ongoing cycling tour of Gabon as three Cameroonian appear on top of the chart with the same time record as the winner of the first lap which was run between Kango and Lambarene. The three are Clovis Kamzong Abessolo, Mbah Herve Raoul and Tekou Foukou Damien. They emerged 22nd, 26th and 35th respectively but with the same time record as the winner of the yellow jersey, Italian-born Andrea Palini who did the 146 km distance in 3h28’18;
The other three Cameroonians were far from ridiculous as they appear in the middle of the classification chart. Nlontsi Yannick is 41st while Geremie Nzeke emerged 43rd. The new kid on the block, Yemeli Pichele is still lost in the crowd. 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 took place yesterday Fougamou and Mouila and the results were not yet available at press time. The third lap today will be 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.
