Patrick KOS Wins First Lap in Cycling Tour Cameroon

The 11th edition of the international cycling tour of Cameroon began on Monday with Patrick Kos from the Global Cycling club of the Netherlands winning the first lap of the race run between Ebolowa and Yaounde. He won by sprint as the escape of about thirty cyclists arrived at almost the same moment. He was followed in the second position by another Dutch cyclist, Vries de Roel. Jeremy Letue of club de la Defense from France came third.

The first Cameroonian occupied the fourth position in the person of Yves Ngue Ngock.

Patrick Kos therefore won the yellow jersey of the leader of the race together with the rose jersey for the lap winner. He also won the red dotted white jersey for the best climber of the race and the green jersey of the individual classification on points. In addition, he also bagged home a cash prize of FCFA315000 destined for the winner of the first lap.

Yves Ngue Ngock on the other hand won the white jersey of the individual classification as well as the sky blue jersey for the best Cameroonian. The race is promising to be tough in that about thirty cyclists were in the escape group and arrived almost at the same time as they were separated from the winner only by seconds.

There was popular interest in the race as people stood by the road side to cheer the cyclists. There was also a mammoth crowd at the arrival at the 20th May Boulevard in Yaounde, equally clapping as the cyclists crossed the finish line.

Speaking at the end of the first lap, the minister of Sports and Physical Education, Adoum Garoua, congratulated the winner but expressed the wish to see a Cameroonian win the race.

The second lap of the race will be run between Pouma and Kribi today. Tomorrow will be a day of rest before resuming on Wednesday March 12 with the third lap to be run between Kribi and Douala. The race track is pretty level and favours sprinters as there are no hills on the road. A total cash prize of FCFA8.070.000 has been allocated for the first twenty in each lap of the race, about four million for the first twenty on the general classification table, 1.570.000 for the first 14 on the team classification, 450.000 for the first three youths, best three climbers, best three on the general classification on points and the first three Cameroonians of the race.