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 Tuesday 1 November 2005 |
| stage 6Ouagadoudou > Manga - 91 km |
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| Same old story |
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For a stage coming just after a well deserved rest day, the pack of the Tour looked to slightly lack of energy on the road heading to Manga. The strategy applied by the three Burkina teams to keep a close eye on their Cameroon rivals and make sure the yellow jersey would remain on the shoulders of Jérémie Ouedraogo worked out perfectly. The Alsace riders of the Franç’or squad, who don’t have real ambitions in the overall standing, managed to clinch their third stage success, the second for Mickaël Schnell.
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A one second lead for Ouedraogo
The main race action in the opening 15 kilometres came from an attack of Cameroon’s Teguimaha, who only managed to remain alone in the lead for two kilometres, with only a hundred metre lead on the pack. But the bonus seconds to be won at the intermediate sprint of Koubri (km 19) changed the pace in the pack with the Burkina men having prepared a special plan for their leader. Capturing third spot behind Marien (BEL) and Amann (FRA), Jérémie Ouedraogo indeed earned an extra bonus second allowing him to increase his overall lead on his rivals, Rouamba (BUR) and Tega (CAM), who were in the same second at the start of the day’s stage.
Same strategy
After catching Karel Pattyn (BEL), who had tried to break away at kilometre 24, the pack made it bunched to the second intermediate sprint where J.Ouedraogo carried on gaining precious seconds. Second behind Marien, he could now count on a two second overall lead on his team captain Saïdou Rouamba, who also clinched a bonus point and second. Thank goodness, Gunter Cuylits (BEL) finally made a decent move that kept the race followers awake. Alongside Tekou Foukou (CAM), with Sanda (CAM) and Tailland (FRA) and again with A.Thiam (SEN), the pink jersey holder gave all he had without however managing a real gap. Indeed the intermediate sprints all along the stage made the Burkina armada react and chase every single attemp. At km 62, J.Ouedraogo captured three points and three bonus seconds.
The double for Schnell
The best attempt of the day occurred in the last twenty kilometres, when a little group of six riders took off. But the presence of former yellow jersey Martinien Tega (CAM) amongst the leaders saw this breakaway rapidly caught by the hungry pack. With under ten kilometres remaining, a bunch of dangerous riders including Tega and Pattyn managed to break clear. Naturally, the Burkina Stallions started chasing and could count on the strong efforts of the Sofitex team. Three kilometres away from the finish line, they were to be caught with Pattyn (BEL), Goulard (FRA) and Wolf (FRA) however keeping a hundred metre lead on the pack. The three men were joined by a fourth, Jacinto (ANG), but remained under the control of the pack that caught them with just two hundred metres to go. Schnell then proved to be the fastest of the bunched sprint and clinched his second stage success in Burkina.
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The goal: to grow up quickly
Jérôme Casagrande, a sports teacher who left his state job to create an independant structure, likes crazy bets. The bet he decided to take on during the month of September was one of them. After organising a training camp for ten Gabon riders in the north of France, he accepted to take in charge the destiny of a national side in reconstruction. Absent of the Tour du Faso since the beginning of the eighties, Gabon is this year hoping to put their team back in the leading positions of African cycling. "We haven’t even had the possibility to organise a real race since 2001. We just have to settle with a couple of small area races each year", explains Mr Ovenga, a representant from the Gabon Sports minister on the Tour.
The first decisive date came in January. Indeed, Gabon counted on the participation of several foreigh teams to compete in «La Tropicale», a stage race in which the federation wanted to enrole a strong squad. A good opportunity to check out the different riders. "When they arrived, they were really bad. They came with their hands in their pockets and no material. But they still had a budget so we went to Belgium to get some bikes. But before that we took off for one or two training sessions on mountain bikes and seeing their physical capacities, I thought that I would be impressed. Instead of that I exhausted them all... And the same went for our first session on race bikes", insisted Casagrande.
Despite some normal worries, Jérôme never had the slightest doubt on how important the project was. "I immediately saw that they had a huge potential. As a rider, I can see that they have riding skills added to rare physical qualities. One sould just see what they went through during 20 days. With the aim that we have set, we rapidly decided to increase our training sessions to two a day. Now we’re on the Tour and everything is going well, especially seeing what we have accomplished so far."
After six stage, the less trained team of the pack still has all its riders and while its best placed man, Mamazoul Ibinga is only 58th, the green team have shown their jersey throughout the event. "I’m especially surprised because only yesterday, they told me that they hadn’t been riding for six months, laughs Jérôme. The only problem is that they absolutely don’t klnow what to expect because they’ve never competed in such a difficult race. Maybe they’re using too much energy without knowing it." Frédéric Obiang, slightly more experienced than his team mates, having competed twice in the Tour of Cameroon, confirms: "We have never ridden so quickly and for such long distances. But we adapt and hang on. We’ll give all we have because we have a goal". Talking about the future, Jérôme Casagrande keeps all his enthusiasm: "If we carry on having ambitions, I’m ready to leave aside my normal activities to take care of them. I believe that in a year, they are able to improve enough to hope winning a stage on the next Tour du Faso, and earn a decent place in the overall..."
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