Grand Prix Chantal Biya: Advertisers shun competition

The "village of the Grand Prix Chantal Biya" scheduled from October 13 to 18, 2015 at the esplanade of the Douala Omnisport Stadium, had its sponsors terminate their contract.

The brewing companies and mobile phone networks, which had agreed to support the Cameroonian Cycling Federation, finally retracted at the last minute.
"They told us they had budgets that were almost coming to an end and it was difficult for them to join us," said Honoré Yossi, President of the Cameroon Cycling Federation, at a press conference on Tuesday October 13, 2015.

Yet the Federation, through this new activity would create an even stronger atmosphere around the competition. According to the organizing committee, it gives another appointment to cycling fans in the next edition.

"We trust that we must partner with the companies that accept to be with us so that they can convey a message about the products and services they market", believed the president of the Federation.

For the competition, in general, despite the many campaigns of seduction, only ten advertisers have agreed to support the sovereignty of competition. "It is not enough," laments Yossi.

"But for a start, we trust that this is something good. And express the wish and the hope that next year during the tour of Cameroon, we would have the number of sponsors doubled; we would have twenty, thirty, why not?" he hoped.

The first pedal stroke of the competition will be given this Wednesday, October 14, 2015, at 11 am at the carrefour Bépanda Omnisport in Douala. After the prologue, the economic capital will host the first stage of the race, a closed circuit in the streets of the city before the transfer of the competitors to Yaounde, on Thursday.

The second step will be on October 16, 2015, between Yaounde and Ebolowa; Step 3 on October 17, 2015, between Zoétélé- Sangmélima and Meyomessala; and finally, the fourth and final stage will be at Sangmélima in Yaounde, on October 18, 2015.

16 teams will take part in this cycling race with 6 African countries (Algeria, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Gabon), two Cameroonian, two French, Slovak, Swiss and a Dutch teams. As proof of what Honoré Yossi said, 80% of the teams participating in the competition had already rallied Douala on Tuesday afternoon.