As Team Nigeria depart this Sunday for for the prestigious Giro Delle Marche Cycling Tour in Italy, President of the Cycling Federation of Nigeria, Engr. Giandomenico Massari has solicited corporate and support of government to harness abundant talent in the sports.
Engr Massari, an active cyclists, said he was attracted to lead the Federation because of the immense cycling talent in the country but noted that individuals alone cannot shoulder the huge task of bridging the gap in equipment and exposure of the talents to into the global sports arena.
He said invitational tour is part of efforts by Cycling Federation of Nigeria (CFN) to expose and prepare the elite girls for upcoming international championships, including the All Africa Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympic games.
The team of 5 cyclists and two coaches Engr. Massari said, have secured all necessary travelling documents, equipment and kits in readiness for the 3-day tour.
According to him, the team will on arrival be received by Andrea Tonti, a former Italian national cyclist and partner of CFN who coordinates the team’s stay throughout the Tour.
The tour features participants from over 20 nations, with Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Russia being the only three national teams in attendance. In all 25 different teams will in the tour. Giro Delle Marche In Rosa (Female Marche Tour ), one of Europe’s and World classification tours for elite female cyclists, is in three stages, spanning 150km each. Its unique attribute is the challenging hilly course of the Marche region.
To adequately prepare for the tour, the team had been in a closed camp in the hills of Jos plateau where the girls had a foretaste of what the rugged Italian hilly terrain would offer under the watchful eyes of Coaches Emmanuel Onasanya and Joy Wachukwu.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja shortly after winding up the Jos camp at the weekend, an excited Coach Onasanya expressed appreciation to the federation for the rare opportunity given the team to showcase their talents, adding that the team is good to go.
“This a unique opportunity especially for the girls to improve on their rating and perhaps secure clubs in Europe. We cannot appreciate President of the federation enough. A lot has gone into the Invitational Championship, talking about preparation and participation.
For three weeks we have camped in Jos because of the similarities in the terrain we are going, again all thanks to the federation. I will say the team is ready.”, said Onosaya.
Team captain, Tombrapa Gladys Grikpa is also upbeat about the tour she said, is a career -changing opportunity.
” We have idea of what the terrain is like, that is why we camped in Jos. We have done a lot of climbs and all that. By the grace of God we will do well in both the classification and tour,” she promised.
Other members of the team include Durogbade Adejoke, Ukpeseraye Ese Lovina, Odiase Glory and Rosemary Marcus.
