Africa's Tour du Faso to begin at the end of October

The 23rd Tour du Faso will consist of 10 stages through the West African nation of Burkina Faso and will run from October 23 to November 1, organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) announced on Monday.

The race will welcome 96 cyclists from 11 African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo) and four European countries (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Slovakia). They will race 1261.7 kilometres over ten stages.

The longest stage will be from Bobo Dioulasso to Dédougou (170km) and the shortest from Bobo Dioulasso to Banfora (83.5km).

Last year, Belgian Guy Smet won two stages and the overall by 43 seconds, ahead of Belgian teammate Laurent Donnay. Smet finished sixth and won a stage in 2007.

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