KRIBI – Namibian leading cyclist Dan Craven made his presence felt at the Tour du Cameroon when he clinched overall 2nd place on the 2nd stage of the tour on Sunday.
Patrick Kos from the Netherlands emerged the winner after a gruesome 159 kilometres from Pouma to Kribi after the Dutchman, who also won the first stage, held the overall lead.
The race was Craven’s first appearance for his new Germany-based team ‘Bike Aid – Ride for Help’ and the 2nd place came as quite a surprise, as the former African champion experienced health problems in recent weeks that saw him opting not to participate at the Namibian championships three weeks ago.
However, the last minute permission from his doctor and coach gave him the green light to race in the ten-day, eight-stage race.
“I have been really amazed by my form since getting here. I did not expect to be going so well after spending a lot of time off my bike.
“It seems to have worked wonders though as my body has come around very quickly – just as I was told it would,” a delighted Craven said. The former Olympian cyclist also looked back at the two stages so far.
“I made a suicidal effort in the final kilometre on day one, which cost me a good stage placing, but at the same time, it was because of that effort that we managed to record the breakaway of the day on the line and thus did not lose any time in the overall.”
In the 2nd stage, tragedy struck when Craven suffered a punctured wheel with eight kilometres left, but a teammate was really quick to stop by and gave him his front wheel pushing the bearded cyclist so that he could get back into the race.
“In the final three kilometres I was sitting in the perfect position in the bunch behind two of my teammates who did an amazing job by looking after me keeping me in position before the uphill sprint.”
The riders took a rest yesterday whereafter they will have another flat stage upon which the race moves to the Cameroonian Highlands for some tough climbing stages. Craven set out to try and gain as many points for the UCI Africa-Tour as possible.
By Staff Reporter