The second edition of ECOWAS Cycling Championship earlier scheduled to hold between December 6 and 10, 2011 has been postponed to 13th  to 19th of February, 2012.

A member of the Organizing Committee for the ECOWAS Cycling Tour, Mohammed Bashir who disclosed that the tour was postponed because of logistics said that members of the tour committee met recently in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso and shifted forward the tour because it was no longer feasible to ride across five West African countries this time.

Bashir, who is the technical director of the Nigeria Cycling Federation, hinted that 15 countries from  the West Africa sub-region will take part in the race, adding, “the tour will flag off at the National Stadium, Surulere in Lagos and will pass through Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and terminate in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire”.

“The organizing committee has put in place the modalities to see to the success of the tour. ECOWAS will sponsor the six day race”, he said, adding that 12 Nigerian cyclists have been invited to camp to prepare for the tour.

“I have just called 12 cyclists to camp in preparation for the ECOWAS tour. Majority of the cyclists are those who took part in the last All Africa Games held in Maputo and they will begin training in Bauchi from the first week of January 2012.”

The technical director of Bornu State Sports Council said he is optimistic that Nigeria will wrestle the first position from Burkina Faso who won the first edition last year.

Meanwhile, Bornu cyclists are set to take part in next years La-Route cycling  tournament billed for Cote d’Ivoire early next year, Bashir disclosed, adding that the race will take place immediately after the ECOWAS tour ends in Abidjan.

“The race will begin two days after the ECOWAS tour. Bornu State will sponsor the cyclists for the La-Route international tour. We have been participating in the race for the past 10 years” he emphasised.