In short
| Stage winner | Stéphane BONSERGEN |
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David VERDONCK |
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David VERDONCK |
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Wahab SAWADOGO A. |
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Wahab SAWADOGO A. |
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Martinien TEGA |
| » Jerseys' description | |
All classifications
| Stage |
|---|
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• Individual time |
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| Overall |
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• Individual time • Individual points • Best team |
Stage by stage
| 1 | Wednesday 25 October | 91 km |
| Ouagadougou > Manga | ||
| 2 | Thursday 26 October | 121 km |
| Manga > (Pô) > Tiébélé | ||
| 3 | Friday 27 October | 140 km |
| Pô > Ouagadougou | ||
| 4 | Saturday 28 October | 129 km |
| Boussé > Ouahigouya | ||
| 5 | Sunday 29 October | 150 km |
| Yako > Ziniaré | ||
| 6 | Tuesday 31 October | 136 km |
| Kokologo > Boromo | ||
| 7 | Wednesday 1 November | 83.5 km |
| Bobo Dioulasso > Banfora | ||
| 8 | Thursday 2 November | 121 km |
| Bobo Dioulasso > Bobo Dioulasso | ||
| 9 | Friday 3 November | 115 km |
| Boromo > (Sabou) > Koudougou | ||
| 10 | Saturday 4 November | 96 km |
| Linoghin > Pouytenga | ||
| 11 | Sunday 5 November | 88 km |
| Loumbila (Barrage) > Ouagadougou | ||
| Total | 1270.5 km | |
The race
Friday 3 November 2006| stage 9 | Boromo > (Sabou) > Koudougou - 115 km |  |
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Bonsergent again!
Convinced for quite some time that they could only impress by claiming stage successes, the Belgians have found a new destiny thanks to David Verdonck. United behind their leader and yellow jersey holder, they applied an efficient team strategy and managed to keep menacing Julien Gonnet (Fra / Bretagne) and Martinien Tega (Cam) under control during the tough stage to Koudougou and its final dirt track portion. The day was however also profitable for the Brittany team that claimed a fifth stage victory thanks to Stéphane Bonsergent’s fine performance.
The film of the stage
Barboza still the same
At the start in Boromo all the riders had the same anguish: the dirt track portion between Sabou and Koudougou, the “red hell†of the Tour du Faso. Most of them took off with special tires for the occasion, all would try to make the best of their experiences of mountain-bike cyclo-cross or even of this same track used a year ago, but many were worried about possible falls or punctures. Mickaël Barboza, well aware of how difficult this moment would be didn’t however change his daily habits. The Senegalese attacked after only four kilometres and then found himself accompanied by six other riders. At kilometre 25, the group could enjoy a 1’05’’ advantage on the pack but had lost Stéphane Cuvier (Fra / Yvelines).
Moroccans and Belgians in command
With three Burkina riders, one from Cameroon, one from Senegal and one from Japan, the breakaway group continued progressing and even had a two minute lead at kilometre 60 despite a very high pace (over 44 km/h of average speed). But the Moroccans and the Belgians in the leading positions of the pack ever since the start, decided to really take on the chase. The smell of dirt seemed to have changed the situation. Indeed, just before entering the track, the front men could only count on a 30†lead. Meanwhile, the Burkina Stallions still hoping to claim their first success of this edition suffered another serious blow with the puncture of Saïdou Rouamba.
A battle for strong men
Twenty kilometres away from the line, Barboza and his companions still hung on to their twenty second advantage but were caught back two kilometres later. With slides, punctures, falls and brutal accelerations on behalf of the Moroccans, only the strongest managed to remain in the battle. Only thirty riders survived within the pack but yellow jersey David Verdonck, green jersey Julien Gonnet and pink jersey Abdul Wahab Sawadogo were still well present.
Bonsergent hardens the pace
The Brittany team looked to be the strongest with three members still in the leading positions and decided to send a man up front to harden the pace and instigate a new selection hoping to see some of Julien Gonnet’s overall rivals collapse. Stéphane Bonsergent was certainly not hoping for a long solo break when he took off with 15 kilometres left. But no real reaction occurred ten kilometres from the line and his lead was still of 10’’ and then 12’’ with 5 km to go. His project was then looking extremely promising and the Frenchman therefore gave all he had to finish on his own. Operation: overall standings failed but Brittany had still claimed its fifth stage success.
LE MAGAZINE
A Japanese epic
The Tour du Faso, in Japanese with Italian subtitles! Giovanni Giommi, documentary film director has decided to follow the Japanese team and its staff of five members. After a first African experience in Kenya where he produced a film on the street children of Nairobi, Giommi wanted to discover Burkina and to do so use its cycling event as an entry. Admirer of William Klein (Ali, The Greatest) which he humbly considers as his model, the director wants to work on aesthetics with a sporting dimension as a background.
How did the idea to follow Japan during the Tour du Faso come?
The initial idea was really to come on the Tour to discover the country. But we found out that this subject had already been used in the past by other film crews from France, the Netherlands and Spain. We therefore had to change our angle and find something that was both significant and original. Seeing the Japanese team take part, I thought it would be interesting to discover their universe in the heart of a cultural chock. I wanted to investigate.
What’s your relationship like with these Japanese riders in the pack?
It’s very difficult to have a dialogue with them because none of them speaks French except for the coach. Two know a few words of English but that’s it. And as my Japanese is very limited, we basically don’t speak. It can seem dangerous but it also gives a certainty that there is no cheating. Everything is pure with no real directing. We however did spend a week in Normandy with them before coming and we will carry on filming in Japan for about ten days. Everything is going perfectly until now.
Who are the heroes of your film? The Japanese, the race, the people from Burkina?
We tell stories that allow entering an atmosphere. For example, the day that Yamamoto suffered a big fall, he was at the heart of our work but we also want to remain at the outskirts of the Tour. I did have the opportunity to use my camera on a peasant to see in what way the World changes when the Tour enters his life. We also spent a long moment with TV journalist Alexis Konkobo while he was actually following the Japanese riders. It could look like a series of portraits, of short films that would have as a link this Japanese epic on the Tour du Faso. I call that improvisation cinema.