Done.

Tour d’Afrique 2008 is finished. From a brief conversation with founder Henry Gold amid the chaos and excitement at the celebratory dinner in Cape Town, he reports that everyone was glad to be finished and a bit of rain at the end couldn’t spoil the celebration of relieved cyclists and their families. Everyone is happy and healthy with four months of memories now to sort through. On the competitive side of things, Canadian Deb Corbeil takes the women’s title in a time of 469 hours, 31 minutes ahead of Dutch rider Joya van Hout while Jos Kaal of Holland leap-frogged Austrian rider Bernd Prorok in the standing to claim the Tour victory in the men’s category.

The race rules worked in Jos’ favour as the removal of the grace days meant that his five worst times were omitted and it made up the difference (and then some) to make him the second Dutchman in a row to become Champion of the Tour d’Afrique. Full standings can be found on the Results page of the Tour d’Afrique website.