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 Wednesday 2 November 2005 |
| stage 7Tenkodogo > Fada N’Gourma - 124 km |
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| Duo in the sun |
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Not easy breaking away from the pack, with three very strong Burkina teams focused on defending the yellow jersey of their current leader. Jérémie Ouedraogo (BUR), gained precious seconds at each intermediate srint to increase his overall lead allowing Christof Marien (BEL) and Jérôme Amman (FRA) to take off in the final part of the day’s stage. Working perfectly together they made it to the finish line with a 41" advantage on the pack and Marien clinched his first success of the event.
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Japan attacks
With less and less possibilities of capturing a stage victory, the riders were eager to take off and give it a go at the beginning of the race. At km 1, around ten riders broke away but this attempt failed to work out despite the presence of Mahamadi Sawadogo (BUR) and Joseph Sanda (CAM) in the group. In the following twenty kilometres, the battle for the leading positions carried on especially with a very impressive M.Sawadogo. Japan’s Fukuhara, and then Akitsu with more success (a 16’’ lead at km 25) are also part of the main attacking but vain actors.
Two extra seconds
Indeed at the first intermediate sprint, the pack was once again bunched well controlled by the Fadoul and Sofitex (BUR) teams. Ouedraogo clinched two bonus seconds behind Marien, while Rouamba, third, had to settle for an extra second.
Alsace makes a move
The pace eased up, especially thanks to the Alsace riders and had a serious impact on the pack at km 50. A group of 36 riders including the overall leaders managed to break away for good. At km 62, the gap was already of 1’20’’. amongst this group a few riders tried to attack with M.Sawadogo proving to be the liveliest. A group of 7 enjoyed a twenty second lead at km 70.... but never more! Gunter Cuylits then gave it a go, probably to tire his companions...
France-Belgium association
The leading group bunched around the Belgian included 10 riders but then only 8 when Cuylits and Sylvain Goulard (FRA) decided to stop their efforts. With 20 kms to go, while the yellow jersey group managed to catch up the leaders, Amman decided to try and break clear. Followed by Marien, pink jersey holder, he could count on a excellent companion. Working perfectly together, they shared the honours on the finish line with stage victory for the Belgian and four places gained for the Alsace rider in the overall standings.
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Bikes, but what after?
His face, his smile and his enthusiasm are familiar to all cycling followers. Without really knowing his name or his life in detail, the TV viewers around the World are now used to the likes of Michel Bationo during the Tour de France in July. But not many know what the famous "time-keeper" does once the biggest cycling event is over and he returns home to Burkina Faso. Amongst his activities linked to national cycling and the Tour du Faso, Michel is in charge of a central mission in the development of the discipline, especially for the young riders. Concretely, he takes care of the coordination of the "1000 vélos pour le Faso" (1000 bikes for the Faso) operation, that allows cycling schools of Burkina and neighbooring countries to receive cycling material.
Yesterday, Michel took advantage of the race stopping over in Tenkodogo to go and visit Serge Sedogo, a sports teacher in one of the 24 schools all over the territory. Voluntary workers like Serge are key figures in the action launched by the Federation for training and detection. And the man in charge knows he can count on their efforts. The facts are there to prove it: thanks to the 12 bikes received after rthe 2004 Tour, he can now organise two sessions a week for children of ages 9 to 16. This year, the school has 20 boys and 9 keen girls and organises 3 or 4 races every year that can sometimes reach 50 kilometres. "The youngsters are really motivated. They love this sport. In our program we have a session on handiness that especially concerns the young, and a long ride every week", details Serge.
And a demonstration follows. On the short "technical" and timed course, the children proved to be fairly fast. And when it came to results, Nafissato, who has been in the school for the past three years, proved to be the most impressive. "I’ve already competed in several races and I often won ahead of the boys", she explained with both pride and timidity. The atmosphere was rather euphoric in the school as the Tour di Faso came by but Michel doesn’t forget to point out the difficulties linked to the bike distribution. "The main problem for all the schools is of course the maintenance. Indeed all the spare parts, starting by the tyres are very expensive for our little structures. We therefore look for solutions to carry on our activity at its best. For example, we are currently talking to the teams present on the Tour so that they leave all their tyres here after finishing the race".
The requests of the famous man in yellow are just as big as the ambition he has for these young riders on a short term basis. "My project is to build a side with all the best riders from the different schools of the country and go and compete in a junior race in France. I spoke with a lot of people during the Tour de France and I have quite a few opportunities. I now have to find a way to finance the plane tickets. Once on site, I can garantee that they won’t be ridiculous". And the kids certainly agree with that...
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