Grand Prix Chantal Biya 2012 Cameroon

Just like every year, we spend the first weekend of October in Cameroon, in a UCI 2.2 race Grand Prix Chantal Biya.

Just like every year, we spend the first weekend of October in Cameroon, in a UCI 2.2 race Grand Prix Chantal Biya. We created a National Selection of four CT BB riders (Viglaský, Debnár, Fraňo, Novák) and two KCK Oslany riders (Barényi, Polievka). Team Director was –as usually- Fred Blankers from Belgium, the support team was further completed by Juraj Gavenda and Lívia Hanesová. While it was a first experience with Black Africa for some riders (Debnár, Novák), others have vast experience of racing in Cameroon (Fraňo 11x, Viglaský 9x, Barényi 5x). Each year there are two UCI races in Cameroon: a Tour de Cameroun in spring and a Grand Prix Chantal Biya in the fall, sponsored by the First Lady of Cameroon.

This race always starts by a prologue – an elimination criterium for the yellow jersey to be worn in the first stage. Cyclists are distributed into groups of 8-9 riders and ride in 500m long laps – the last one of the group to cross the finish line is eliminated. The remaining 2 riders in each group qualify for the semi-finals. We somehow managed to have three riders in the semi-finals – Novák, Fraňo and Barényi accompanied by Dutch riders, one French, one Cameroonian and one from Ivory Coast. A Cameroonina winner is a must in this prologue, so we only could fight really for second and worse placings. Milan Barény finnished runner-up, Fraňo seventh, Novák eighth.

This year’s Grand Prix was extended by one stage compared to previous year’s editions. The very first stage was new to us, 122km from Yaounde to Bafia. We tried to ride activelly in the peloton. There were temptations of Debnár and Novák to break-away from the very start. Later Viglaský initiated what proved to be the most important break-away of the day. No wonder Ivan profited from his vast experience in this country and sensed when the stage could be decided. He was part of the leading group of 8 riders with a time gap of over 2 minutes in some check points, later created the chasing trio when the leading group separated. The trio Viglaský – Mercier (Swiss Velo Passion) – Tekou (Cameroon A) was literally swallowed by the peloton with only few kilometres to go. The initiative of the peloton was driven mostly by the two French teams in the race. Peloton was spread in the penultimate 3km long climb and the 1km long climb just before the Finish. Local Ngock profited of the difficult hilly finish and won the stage, followed by a Dutch Smits. Peloton sprinted with a time loss of 4 seconds, our Polievka finished 5th, Barényi 8th, Novák 21st, Fraňo 27th, Debnár 32nd and Viglaský arrived completely exhausted with a small time gap in 54th position.

Second stage was the well known 160km partly flat, partly hilly stage from Yaounde to Ebolowa. The four Cameroon teams in the race controlled the majority of the stage by a fast speed and by not letting any break-away to be created. It seemed the peloton could only spread in the hilly kilometres before the finish. There were some temptations for break-aways by many riders, including Swiss team, Dutch Kers and our Debnár, but peloton stayed always groupped. Ivan Viglaský took advantage of the small gap created in a steep climb with only 2km to go – he attacked but was overtaken by peloton led by the provisional yellow-jersey Ngock 100m before the finish stage. Barényi took advantage of this fast and demanding finish in the rain and finished runner-up to the Dutch van Eerden. Polievka finished 4th, unlucky Viglaský 7th, Fraňo 12th, all with the time of the winner. Novák finished 27th with a time gap of 11 seconds, Debnár 45th.

The start of third stage was situated to a bordering town of Kye Ossi. This merchand town borders Gabun and Equitorial Guinea. Ivan talks of the unusuall warm-up for today’s stage: “We decided to go for a warm-up ride to the neighbouring Gabun. We also decided to take a leak in this country. And we came to the Start line directly from an Equitorial Guinea border as the border was only about 100m away from the Start of the race. It was my first time to Kya Ossi, and it definitelly is interesting to see the frourishing market on the border of 3 countries. We also managed to add 2 countries to our imaginary list of ‘visited countries’. The cruel battle for a stage victory followed shortly after. Two riders from a French team Cantal attacked in the hilly landscape right from the start and despite the efforts of Cameroonian riders in the front of peloton, they still maintained their small advantage of about 1 minute. Heavy rain came about half-way through the stage. Roads were flooded by water and became incredibelly glissery in some parts caused by spilt oil and soil washed on the road. Visibility dropped in some parts to almost 0 metres without any exagerration. Swiss rider Mercier and French Gay took advantage of these conditions and created a break-away right after peloton reached the first two leading French riders. Cameroonioan cooperation didn’t seem to work anymore, and despite the efforts of the Dutch and our riders, namely Polievka and Debnár, the 2 riders kept their gap of 33 seconds until the finish. Only true stuntmen sprinted today for the remaining 3rd place on the podium with the finish line being very glissery and technical. The Green Jersey Van Eerd won the sprint of peloton and finished 3rd in stage. Barényi finished 12th, Fraňo 18th, Polievka 22nd, Debnár 26th, Viglaský 34th, all with the time of peloton.

Last stage brought riders from Ebolowa back to Yaounde. The 160km long stage was to decide who would be the next winner of this 12th edition of Grand Prix Chantal Biya. Anyone of the top 20 could possibly be the overall winner – the leading duo of Mercier and Gay was followed only by 29 seconds by Mercier and Gay. Another 16 riders were only loosing 33 seconds at the start of the last stage. Three of our riders were in the top 20 – Barényi, Polievka and Fraňo. Cameroon rider Ngock and French Graczyk attacked from the very beginning what seemed to be slighty hot-headed. The biggest time gap they had was 3 minutes to the peloton. But once the Swiss Velo Passion worked hard in the lead of the peloton, the difference dropped to 30 second. French Graczyk, quite exhausted from the attack, dropped back to the peloton. Ivan Viglaský took his place in the break-away that lasted until the last 10 to the finish. Ivan didn’t really have much of the sport-luck needed to make a good result this year. The last 20km are pretty tough with tens of demanding, short but very steep climbs. A true paradise for riders eager to break-away and get in the lead. And since there were some 20 riders capable of winning the race, not just the stage, the fight was hard. Racing was really nervous as we were getting to the finish line. The heavy rain made it even harder, causing many dangerous spots when entering the capital. The last difficulty to pass was a Mountain Prime at 3km to go – at this point a group of 35 riders was formed. Polievka attacked and along with 2 other riders withdrew himself from the group. Shortly after he continued with only Kamzongo from Cameroon, the French rider couldn’t sustain the high speed. Their gap grew to 30 seconds. Almost all riders in the remaining peloton tried their best, since only a 1 second time difference to their rivals could move them up by 15 places in the general classification and make it to TOP 8 who will be attributed UCI points. Polievka got rid of his Cameroonian rival and entered the boulevard all alone, crossed the finish line with a big gap. He thus became the 3rd Slovak rider to win in this African Champs Elysées in Cameroon. He recovered for his bad memories of this year’s Tour de Cameroun, when his hope for a stage victory vanished only 500m before the finish line after being whole day in a break away. Cameroonian Kamzong finished second, Dutch Kerso took the 3rd place of the stage and gained a small time advantage over the peloton. Fraňo, along with five other sprinters, fell in the final sprint in heavy rain, but was classified with the time of peloton in 11th place. Novák, Debnár and Barényi took places in the twenties. The Swiss rider Mercier became the leader of General Classification, Polievka managed by the small time gap he had in the final kilometres to make it to an overall 3rd place. French Gay completed the podium in 2nd place. Barényi finished 10th in the overall classification with a loss of 33 seconds. Fraňo 16th with the same time loss. Novák 24th, +1:24min., Debnár 28. +1:58min., Viglaský 44. +6:01min.

“I liked the way the race evolved. From my point of view, this was the most successful GP Chantal Biya for our team and for me personally too. I kept the time of the biggest group in GC until the last stage. I was fighting for a good placing in almost all stages plus also in the General Classification, what was a new experience for me. After I was sure the peloton could not make up on the leading Polievka from our team, I attacked to at some 2km to finish – I was hoping for the extra 1 second lead to my rivels that would bring me the UCI points of TOP 8 overall placings. Unfortunatelly peloton overtook me with only 800m to go. I still had energy to sprint and hoped to make it to top 10 in the stage. I was well positioned in 6th place in the peloton when all of a sudden a leading rider of the peloton, Swiss Passi Puttini caused a fall due to neglected hole in a flooded road from the heavy rains. He caused a crash of me, Basiru Konte and the Green Jersey Dutch van Eerd. It took us several meters to stop sliding as the roads were really glissery. I of course, was given the time of the group, but got lots of wounds and bruises all over my body. I spent the whole night in fever as I got a light infection from the dirt on the ground that entered my body through the wounds. It really is a pity to fall so badly the last stage with only some 300m to go. Only couple days ago I managed to cure my wounds from French Guyane. Well I guess that’s what sport is about, especially sprints. Sprints are always dangerous, even in big races. I can only be satisfied with the team results. We got one stage victory, the second place in a stage being a repetition of last year’s podium. The competition was slightly higher this year, there was 1 extra european team. Besides the ‘usual’ teams of French Police, French Cantal and Swiss Velo-Passion, also Dutch Global Cycling showed up this year. The Dutch returned after 2 years’ absence. In the past they even managed to win this race twice – the winner being a Dutch National Champion – in Amateur category, Peter van Agtmaal. This year again, they got one stage victory and their National Champion in Amateur category finished 5th in GC. I think we can be really satisfied with our performance at the last-year’s road race of the season.” were words of Martin Fraňo.

Besides bringing home 29 UCI points, we also improved the already good bilateral relations between Cameroon and Slovakia. We had several talks over our potential cooperation with the Cameroonian Ministry of Sport. Martin Fraňo clarifies only slightly in what terms the cooperation would be carried out: “Yes, me along with our Team Director Fred Blankers met several times with the Ministry of Sports of Cameroon and discussed a possible cooperation plan of CT BB with the Cameroonian Cycling Federation. If our talks end up well, we will definitelly inform our readers and sponsors. One is for sure now, we are looking forward to the upcoming Tour de Cameroun even already.”

Photos: facebook CT BB Results: kalendár pretekov 2012

Photos: Facebook CK BB

Results: Racing schedule 2012.