The General Manager, Pitstop Lagos, Opeyemi Adegboro, has disclosed the plan of the cycling community to produce top-tier elite cyclists, who will represent Nigeria at international competitions in 2024.
Speaking in Lagos on Sunday, Adegboro noted that the community made the finale of its monthly criterium different from previous editions; by increasing the laps of the race for the cyclists from 14 loops to 28.
According to him, “The cycling community is investing so much in the cyclists, especially in the elite cyclists. We sponsored them to Cape Town earlier this year (March) to participate at the Cape Town cycle tour and Sierra Leone in April. So at the continental level, we have started this exposure this year, 2023 and we intend to take it further in year 2024.”
He added that “Pitstop community is aimed at improving health, fitness and general wellness. The community is a mix of recreational riders, those who ride for health and fitness, professional cyclists and elite cyclists.
“The Pitstop Lagos criterium is a monthly race and we usually do it every last Sunday of the month. Throughout this year, we’ve been racing and this one that has just been completed is the grand finale for the year 2023.”
Adegboro also lauded the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, for showing interest and readiness in developing cycling at the grassroots during his visit at the October criterium.
“We are very grateful to the Minister of Sports Development for gracing the criterium with his presence in October.
“The elite cyclists are all happy to see that the Federal Government is indeed showing interest in grassroots sports development because that is what Pitstop community is actually doing, especially developing cycling at the grassroots,” he averred.
Emerging the winner of the over 70-kilometre race for December Criterium, Innocent Emmanuel, bagged the grand prize of N500,000.
Other winners including Azeez Odebiyi, Abideen Odebiyi, Preye John Dede, and Fashanu Favour emerged as 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, and they got the cash prize of N300,000, 200,000, N150,000 and N100,000 respectively.
The race was sponsored by Access Bank, Craneburg and Ilubirin.
Expressing joy, Emmanuel said: “I feel so great because it is a dream come true. Throughout the year, I have been struggling to win a race. Many thanks to our sponsors, they are really making it very easy for us to showcase our talents”.
Eyo Effiok, who emerged as the winner and representative of Craneburg — the best team at the race, expressed gratitude to Pitstop for organising the criterium and for doling out the cash prizes to his team.
He said: “It was a very tough ride today. This is my third win. I have won twice with the Access Bank team, but I am happy to win for Craneburg today because I represented the team during the last criterium and I had a crash despite being in a better position at the race, which made me lose. I am happy to have represented them again and won this time.”
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