WINDHOEK – Namibian professional cyclist Dan Craven put up an emphatic performance to win the highly competitive Tour du Cameroun and subsequently took pole position on the International Cycling Union (UCI) Africa ranking in Cameroon on Tuesday.
A seventh place on the last stage was enough for the 32-year-old Craven from the ‘Bike Aid- Ride for Help’ team to seal the win ahead of the second placed rider, Benjamin Stauder from Germany. Craven had taken the yellow jersey after the sixth stage and gallantly maintained his stronghold in it during the course of the race. The tour in central Africa did not start too brightly for Craven as he only managed a 21st place finish in the first stage after missing much of the preparation in the weeks leading up to the race due to illness. Craven then shrugged off his opening round disappointment to clinch the second place in stage-2 of the competition with a 19th place finish. He again claimed another 2nd place finish in stage-6, which then earned him the yellow jersey. A 9th and 4th place in the following two stages meant that Cravn was in a good position to take the lead, but the winner would be determined on the last stage, which stretched an agonizing 120km from Bafia to the capital Yaoundé. “The last day was extremely fast with a lot of attacks that my team had to control. Fortunately, the second, third and fourth placed riders in the general classification were also trying to protect their positions, which played much into our cards,” Craven said.
With about 75km, a group of two broke away and was soon followed by another four-man group, but since they didn’t pose a threat to Craven, he and his teammates let them go. The final stretch did however proof to be more difficult, according to the former African champion Craven. “The final stretch was pretty crazy with the road closure not being 100 percent tight in some places and a very fast and dangerous descent in the final three km.” Eventually, he did manage to keep an eye on his closest competitors to come in seventh in the final stage to successfully claim the overall tour victory, including the King of the Mountains Jersey. Craven is expected back home anytime now to come and recover and train before getting ready for the Tour de Morocco in April. He is very confident that he is on path for his prime goal to stay in the top 5 of the UCI Africa ranking. This will enable him to qualify for the elite World Championships in August. This would be only the second time after 2009 that a Namibian cyclist qualifies to participate in the World Champs.
By Staff Reporter