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Chtioui wins 10th Tour of Gabon

Monday, February 23 2015 by SNTV
  • Intro:

    Tunisia's Rafaa Chtioui, riding for the Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team, won the 10th Tour of Gabon (Tropical Amissa Bongo) in Libreville, finishing the eighth and final stage in the peloton to beat Giovanni Bernaudeau of France (Team Europcar) by 2 minutes and 7 seconds.

    Script:

    The eighth and final stage of the 10th Tour of Gabon took the peloton on a 127 km route from Cape Esterias to the capital, Libreville.

    Tunisia's Rafaa Chtioui had held the leader's yellow jersey from day one and with an advantage of 2 minutes and 23 seconds in the overall classification coming into Sunday's conclusion, only a major disaster could prevent the Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling rider from taking the title.

    A relatively flat course suggested a bunched sprint finish and so it proved, despite a series of ultimately unsuccessful breakaways.

    The best attempt came from Morocco's Salah Eddine Mraouni, who finished tenth in the overall classification last year.

    But Mraouni was reeled in and it all came down to the final two km..

    The French Bretagne-Seche Environnement team lined up better than their rivals and Belarussian rider Yauheni Hutarovitch hit the front on the final straight before the line.

    Shepherded by British teammate Daniel McLay, the 2013 Tour of Normandie Points winner and first over the line on stage three in Gabon, Hutarovich crossed the line in two hours, 54 minutes and 33 seconds to take his third stage win in a row.

    Chtioui finished safely in the peloton to take the title with a two minutes and 7-second advantage over Giovanni Bernaudeau of France.

    SOUNDBITE (French) Rafaa Chtioui, winner of the 2015 Tour of Gabon:

    "Yes, it's one of the biggest races I have won. I have finished second in the world youth championships before, I also won a stage at the Tour de l'Avenir. And here, I'm winning a professional race, it's new for my record."

    Algeria's Abdelkader Belmokhtar finished third two minutes and 39 seconds off the pace.

    Chtioui was presented with the trophy by Gabonese president Ali Bongo Ondimba and became the second African rider in succession to win the Tour of Gabon, following Natnael Berhane's success for Eritrea last year.

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