Tour of Eritrea - NE

Eritrea, March 22-30, 2003

Stage List Start List Past winners

The Stages

Prologue - March 22: Asmara, 8 km ITT
Stage 1 - March 23: Asmara - Debarwa, 143 km
Stage 2 - March 24: Debarwa - Deckemhare, 143 km
Stage 3 - March 25: Deckemhare - Massawa, 185 km
Stage 4 - March 26: Assawa – Asmara, 115 km
Stage 5 - March 28: Asmara-Barentu, 237 km
Stage 6 - March 29: Barentu - Keren
Stage 7 - March 30: Keren - Asmara

Preview

By Essayas Fessahaye

The 2003 edition of the Tour of Eritrea kicked off on Saturday, March 22 with an eight km prologue time trial around Tsaeda-Kristian, won by Efrem Tewold. More than 90 riders are taking part in the eight stage/1069 km tour, which includes a 237 km stage from Asmara to Barentu. The riders will also head to cities like Massawa, Mendefera, Dekemhare, Keren, Segeneyti and others. The race covers each zonal administration in the country, with the exception of the Southern Red Sea zone.

The race, dominated by the Central zone competitors, will include teams like Red Sea, Tele, Asbeco, Natna, Asmara, Gegante, Debub and Northern Red Sea zone. 32 individual racers will also take part, supporting themselves.

The prize money at stake is Nakfa 160,000 (roughly €12,000), which has been donated by Hamset Project. The top 10 overall and the king of the mountain winners will receive money, and stage winners will also get trophies and jerseys donated by the Eritrean Cycling Association in Europe and former racer Daniel Fessahaye.

The Tour of Eritrea is one of the biggest cycling events in the country, and has been held for a third consecutive year since independence. The tour was first run in 1946, but stopped during the forthcoming colonisation years. In 2001, on the 10th anniversary of the country's independence, the Tour of Eritrea reappeared. Habte Weldesimon (Red Sea) won the race that year, while Efrem Tewold (Tele) won the king of the mountains prize. Last year, Micheal Teku won the overall race and Awet Russom was declared king of the mountain.

More than half a million Nakfa (€38,000) is to be squandered to make the Tour of Eritrea 2003 a success. The head of the Eritrean Cycling Federation, Mr. Gebrengus Zere, is also commissioner of the tour as head of Central Zone Cycling committee Major Nerayo Tekle(Anwar) is nominated for an assistant commissioner.

Start list

Coming!

Past winners

2002 Micheal Teku
2001 Habte Weldesimon
 
Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com