Mansouri Islam is the first Algerian to win the race and the third North African to emerge as the competition’s champion in the last nine years.
Algerian cyclist, Mansouri Islam is the winner of the 2025 Cameroon International Cycling Tour. The North African rider emerged as winner after ranking first on the general standing at the close of the 10th and final lap of the competition. The 10th lap took place on Sunday from Ngoulemakong in the South Region to Yaounde in the Centre Region. It featured a distance of 108.1km with Mansouri Islam finishing eighth on the lap’s standing. Mansouri Islam’s victory comes after he did the entire competition in 23 hours, 24 minutes and 39 seconds.
He completed the series standing some 42 seconds ahead of second-placed, Rawende Moucaila of Burkina Faso who covered the race in 23 hours, 25 minutes and 23 seconds. Schmitz Campo of Germany’s Team Storck Metropol Cycling ranked third on the classification after covering the race in 23 hours, 25 minutes and 55 seconds. Team Cameroon’s best-performing star, Clovis Kamzong Abossolo of SNH Velo Club ranked fifth on the final classification. His teammate, Rodrigue Kuere, placed seventh followed by Boris Michel Tientcheu who closed the list of Cameroonians in the top 10. Boris Tientcheu’s eighth position ranking came as a major disappointment following his outstanding performances during a greater duration of the competition.
The skipper of Cameroon National Cycling Team led the race from the first lap in Maroua in the Far North Region to the eighth lap which was held from Douala to Kribi in the Littoral Region, featuring a distance of 163.1km. Mansouri Islam took over the leadership position at the close of the nineth lap. The lap flagged off in Pouma in the Littoral Region and rounded up in Yaounde in the Center Region. Mansouri Islam is the first Algerian to win the race and the third North African to emerge as the competition’s champion in the last nine years.
Tour overshadowed by lap cancellation controversy
The excitement around the 2025 race which flagged off with Cameroonians performing impressively was overshadowed by controversies over the cancellation of the seventh lap of the competition by the Cameroon Cycling Federation, FECACYCLING. The lap was scheduled to run in a close circuit format in Douala in the Littoral Region. But the federation cancelled the series, stating in a statement that the decision was taken after cyclists refused to compete in the lap due to the bad state of the stretch of road that was to be used for the event.
The Douala City Council however came out in a statement after the cancellation to state that unlike what the federation had said, the cancellation happened because FECACYCLING had failed to communicate and collaborate with the council in the process of selecting and programming the lap. The city council said the road was not useable simply because maintenance works were being carried out on the lines and not because the road was bad.
It insisted that had the federation properly communicated and collaborated with the city council, the institution would have taken measures to ensure that a different stretch of road is used for the lap.
