After wearing the yellow jersey yesterday morning after the first stage TTT won by its national colors of Eritrea, Yakob Debesay is back on the first step. He did today a splendid job of this third mountainous stage, where he dominated the Ecuadorian Alexis Quinteros with whom he had escaped on the slopes of the Falaise of Santchou. The Eritrea team then managed to control the race in the back to allow his young leader to take the lead on the overall classification. With two Eritrean teammates in the 2nd and 3rd place, he took a nice option for the final victory next Saturday in the streets of Yaoundé. Its main rival, Alexis Quinteros is already at 1’25 ” in the general classification. “I think we have taken a significant step today,” said Yakob Debesay. But we will have to stay focused until the end if we want to bring victory in Eritrea.

February 6, 2019