Jumpy start
The start of the tenth stage was given at 9h06 to 60 riders. The pack was immediately shaken by numerous attacks, notably initiated by Afis Bakare, the youngest rider in the competition. The rhythm is such that, very quickly, numerous riders lose lots of ground, and find themselves alone on an overwhelmingly hot route.



The vain attempt of a courageous trio
After all initiatives were repressed by the Moroccan team, notably a breakaway attempt by Mahamadi Sawadogo, Hamidou Sawadogo, and Ricardo Serrano, attacks are rare at the head of the race. The second hot point is won by Ibouldo, ahead of H. Sawadogo and Lebaron.

Victory for Sartori - Saadoune keeps the yellow jersey
At 25 kilometres from the end, seeing that his leader, Alexandre Lecoq, will not be able to recuperate the minute separating him from the yellow jersey in the overall standings, the French rider, Franck Sartori, leaves the pack and continues alone. In Yako, he keeps a comfortable lead up to the finishing line, savouring a well deserved victory.

The vitality of cycling in Burkina Faso

As the 16th Tour du Faso draws to an end, these two weeks have revealed to us that cycling is a general occupation in Burkina Faso and that, far from being limited to a few star competitions, it touches the entire population. First of all, there are the races for the young, boys and girls together, that particularly touched us : sponsored by the French Embassy, they allow a handful of young cyclists to ride in the last ten kilometres of a few stages of the Tour du Faso. Through this we saw the vitality of cycling as a sport and understand that its popularity will continue for a long time to come. The joy of these budding champions at the end of their race was sufficient proof of this

But cycling in Burkina Faso is above all a means of transportation, used by everyone, in all places and at all times : between two villages it's common to see a woman riding with her baby on her back or a young man carrying a 100 kilo bag attached to his bike. Here, everyone rides a bike and, observing the entrance to a local market, we are astounded at the hordes of blue bicycles and wonder how the owners manage to recognise their own model. The phenomenon is particularly strong in Ouaga, where the traffic lights stop hundreds of Ouaga men and women travelling to work or going to see friends. The term pack doesn't seem inappropriate…

We question a prosperous bicycle sales merchant : "yes, there are lots of bicycles, but I don't sell more than three a month. The market is saturated and there are lots of places to buy bikes". A bike costs on average 60.000 FA francs C (100 euros), two months salary for a worker and one month's salary for a civil servant… Here a bike is a real investment, which cannot be afforded by everyone. Nevertheless, the country is developing and the buying of a bicycle is the first step in the social climb, before a moped and, the greatest luxury of all, a car. This is certainly why the Tour du Faso is so popular : all personally experience the suffering endured by the bush slaves…