The men’s Elite & Under 23 Road Race took center stage on day two of the 2023 Africa Games currently ongoing in Ghana.
The Race covered a total distance of 137.5km over 11 laps with 56 cyclists in contention combing an average speed of 44.35km/hr.
Mauritius sprinter Aleander Mayer left pundits shocked as he cruised to an unexplainable breakaway finish in a time of 3hrs: 06mins: 01secs to win Gold in the men’s Elite division.
Dillian Geary from South Africa ,who also doubles as an Under 23 rider injected a pacy chase close to Mauritius but to no avail and established himself in the second spot in same time build up.
“The Red Sea Camel’s” hope, Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedlein of Eritrea accumulated same time and placed third to restore some hope into the teeming fans of Eritrea who had thronged Ablekuma in full gear.
Algerian sprinter, Azzerdin Lagab was comfortable in the fourth position in same time with yet another Eritrean, Yemane Tsegay coming through the fourth position, also in same time.
This was arguably one of the most difficult Road assignments for the riders as the temperature levels had risen up and unfavorable for most of the foreign Stars in the bunch.
The 11 laps , by sight was not an easy task as the entire bunch responded to the flag by the President of the Ghana Cycling Federation Mohammed Sahnoon Esq and had rolled into action.
Ghana’s Michael Naaba instantaneously was dismembered from the bunch apparently due to his faulty bicycle and had no option than to withdraw in tears.
By the third lap, the South Africans and Eritreans had secured the front drive and had to pull the rest of the approaching bunch.
With 7 laps to go there had already been a breakaway of of 6 riders with the Ugandan Charles Kagimu in full throttle,followed by the South Africans and an Eritrean.
The average speed at this stage was reading around 46.45km/hr. And this was very explainable how heated the race was.
The 5th lap drew the curtains on who would actually win the 137.5km race by prediction. 4 riders had broken away from the main bunch and scattered the rest in pieces with only two Ghanaians battling their shadows inside the second bunch- Solomon Tagoe and Victor Cudjoe Akpabli.
3 more laps to go and Aleander Mayer of Mauritius, Azzerdin Lagab of Algeria, Matombe Hanson of Mauritius and one other had broken away from the main bunch separating themselves from the approaching bunch in a distance of 3mins 32 seconds.
Merhawi Kudus Ghebremedlein of Eritrea had done a yeoman’s job by his solo effort in joining the breakaway trio. His compatriot and Eritrean poster boy Henok Muluberhan Solomon was missing in action.
The last lap was magnificent especially in the bend where Aleander Mayer left pundits gasping for answers with a fantastic sprint across the finish line to win Gold for Mauritius.
Ghana’s Solomon Tagoe was simply impressive and demonstrated his Derbywheel stint in the UK last month by placing 31st in a time of 3:11:25. Fellow compatriot Victor Cudjoe Akpabli smoked his efforts down the ladder with a time of 3:18:29 with the rest of the four riders from Ghana getting dropped midway action.
37 riders including 7 Under 23 cyclists either got dropped or did not finish the race.
Story By: Dennis Kweku Moore
