Car radio is already switched on.

Isat, our driver, slept the night in the car incidentally, no hotel room for him,

and I found him in the dark of the hotel car park at the hotel Amazon,

just completing his prayers this morning, but very early start this morning, very early starts.

We had to set the alarm at 5.30 out and about at 6 o'clock.

We're just waiting for the convoy to get rolling.

The sun's just coming up.

Stage 1 proper begins today at the Tour de Benin.

And it's 126 kilometres from Zagnano to Savay,

up north into the interior of the lands.

And we've got a little bit of a drive to get to the

start and then the race starts so early because you can't possibly race in the afternoon in this

heat plenty of military have arrived on the race as we head ever further north and into the

interior so we've got quite an escort with us and the whole cavalcade is beginning to fill up the big

bus behind me is filling up with all the eritreans the riders from bequina fasso morocans the

Algerians the neighbors from togo the Nigerians and even the European teams the

Hugh Kerr and the bikeade team from Germany and a club side from Belgium, all getting ready to start the race proper.

Looking forward to it.

So I'm standing at the start line with the new Mayo-Jean, the first Mayo-Jean of the Tour de Bernard. Well, it's true, it's true you have a yellow jersey. Yeah, thanks, yeah. What else was I don't know. Yesterday, I mean I could see when you rolled off the ramp, you really meant that, didn you saw an opportunity you even threw the bike

over the line yeah I had a lot of speed but I quickly after I pushed too hard and

quickly it go down with the pressure because it was a little bit too hard I thought and

then after the turnaround I got a fresh speed I think.

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