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Top Cameroonian cyclist dies after criterium crash

Yannick Lontsi Yemeli crashed as secuirity tried to remove "mentally disturbed" woman from circuit...

One of Cameroon’s leading cyclists has died after a crash during a criterium that reportedly happened as a race official tried to escort a mentally disturbed woman from the circuit.

Yannick Lontsi Yemeli, who had ridden for the national team, sustained head injuries in the crash at the nocturne race on Saturday evening in the western African country’s capital Yaounde, and died in hospital there yesterday.

Jacques Kuissi, the president of the Cameroon cycling federation, quoted on Cameroon-info.net, said: “The riders were on the last turn ahead of the final sprint. A mentally disturbed woman got onto the circuit.

"Captain Fouda, the head of security, crossed over to get the unfortunate woman off the course, but he was hit by a group of riders including Lontsi.

“All of them came down. There was a number of injuries, but in the case of Lontsi it was very serious because he hit his head on the ground.

“On Sunday morning, we received the sad news he had passed away,” he added.

Aged 27, Lontsi was third overall in the 2013 edition of the Tour du Faso, and the following year won a stage in his home country of the UCI Africa Tour race, the Grand Prix Chantal Biya.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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fenix | 7 years ago
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Awful incident. My thoughts are with the family and friends.

I'd not speculate on the security issue. Impossible to tell from what we've heard.

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PennineRider | 7 years ago
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Heat of the moment and all that, but this looks like an occasion where the attempt to remove the danger actually made it far worse. Better to have waited for the riders to pass before leaping onto the track to remove the woman? Instead, there were two pedestrians in the path of the riders instead of one. Condolences to the family of the dead man.

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