Ouagadougou, Burkinabè cyclist Paul Daumont won the yellow jersey of the 34th edition of the Tour international du Faso on Sunday ahead of Belgian Wouters Rutger, despite the victory in the 10th and final stage of the Moroccan Achraf Ed-Doghmy on Avenue Thomas Sankara, noted the AIB on site in the Burkinabe capital.
This is the first victory in the history of the little Burkinabè queen, by Paul Daumont. He did not take any risks on the Saponé-Ouaga route (103.100km with criterion in the capital). He received instructions from his staff to score on the wheel, his Belgian challenger Wouters Rutger who could damn him the pawn.
At the finish, “it's a great liberation, a great relief,” rejoiced the big winner of the Tour, Paul Daumont, who explained that “it was a very long and very difficult tour. We took the yellow jersey in the first stage and it was very hard to keep it. But I am very happy to succeed in this challenge with my teammates.”
The 2 nd general classification at the time, Wouters Rutger (Belgium) who saw two of his “lieutenants” defect due to illness, also admitted that “it was hard today. It was tough for the massive final sprint. I came in 5th position .”
In this fight for the yellow jersey, the Belgian tried and succeeded in gaining 3 seconds by winning the first intermediate sprint of the stage. The rest was difficult given the reduction in the number of riders on his team.
The Belgians were now happy to watch, making the task easier for the Burkina Faso A team. In this new configuration of the race, the Moroccan Achraf Ed-Doghmy, 3rd in the general classification, took the opportunity to show off his powerful pedal stroke at the finish.
He beat the Ivorian Abou Sanogo and his compatriots Adil El Arbaoui and El Houcaine Sabbahi in the sprint. The Moroccan completed the 103.100km in 2h19mn12sec, an average speed of 44.439km/h. Wouters and Daumont, who were neck and neck, came 5th and 6th respectively .
Paul Daumont therefore saves his jersey and Burkina Faso returns to victory, 5 years after that of Mathias Sorgho in 2018.
According to the national technical director of the Burkinabè Cycling Federation Martin Sawadogo, “Paul Daumont has proven himself at the level of racing at 2.2 (semi-professional category) and we will try to make him progress to the level of 2.1 (professional category) .
The Tour du Faso 2023 brought together 71 riders from 13 teams from 11 countries in Africa and Europe for a race of 1187,600km in 10 stages. They crossed 7 regions of Burkina Faso. It was the German Daniel Bichlmann who won the yellow jersey for the 33rd edition of the Tour du Faso.
Source: Burkina Information Agency