Fred Vubem
6 October 2008
They won a lap victory and both the individual and team categories.
French cyclists put up the most outstanding performance during the 8th edition of the Grand Prix Chantal Biya International Cycling Race which took place from September 2 to 5. Two French cyclists appeared among the first three in the first lap of the race ran between Yaounde and Ebolowa. Thomas Rostollan was first while Rey Fabien came third. Thomas Rostollan went on to win the yellow jersey which is symbolic of winner of the race. He was followed by another French man, Barle Florent, in the second position. The French team, AVC AIX emerged the overall best team on the classification table. Rey Fabien also came out first on the general classification on points and David Clarke, an English Man who runs for the Hamburg club of Germany, was the best climber.
The strongest challenge to the French came from Cameroonians. A Cameroonian, Ngue Ngok Yves won the prologue of the race in Yaounde. Another Cameroonian from the SNH Velo Club, Duanla Flaubert won the second lap of the race ran between Ngolbang and Meyomessala. He eventually turned out to be the best African of the race and emerged third on the general individual classification table behind the two French cyclists. Another Cameroonian, Tekou Damien came third in the third and last lap of the race, Serge Herz from Germany in the second position.
It is worthy to mention that the Grand Prix Chantal Biya International Cycling race witnessed two major changes. First was the increase of laps from two to three with the inclusion of Ebolowa in the race course. It also saw the prologue of the race moved from the J.F. Kennedy Avenue to the 20th May Boulevard in Yaounde. There has equally been the massive participation of the population as crowd lined-up the roadsides and each arrival or departure point was in festive mood with banners flying, music, and live television quiz shows. Top administrative and political officials of each town. There was also an increase in the number of sponsors who could found seeking for the attention of the crowd at each stop.
Like last year, the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Augustin Thierry Edjoa offered sports equipment to youths of Meyomessala and Yaounde as well as in mates of the Ebolowa prison. Participants and observers alike agree the level of the competition has increased and that the organisation has equally improved.
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