Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Sylvain : taking pictures, bike, 
Faso tour! 

The basketball player from Burkina discovered cycling through his passion for photography, he lives the cycling race: the Faso Tour, as a photographer. He works hard nowadays to help the Faso Tour to become worldwide known.

Sylvain Zingué is born, not on a bike but with a ball in his hand. As a Basketball player, he starts to dribble around, juggle, and score at secondary school where he won 2 national titles (under-16 and senior), he played the Senior championships from 1996 to 2012 and won six national champion titles. Sylvain became a coach and trained teams in France. He organizes the Moving Basketball Camp, coaching 1 000 basketball players from Burkina, France, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Senegal! He dreams of bringing the Tarmak Brand into this adventure…

His passion for photography brought this basketball player to cycling roads. Sylvain became part of the Faso Tour as a member of the organizing committee, where he met members of the cycling federation and the ministry of sports. Created in 1987 by the former president Thomas Sankara, the initiator of the Burkina revolution, the Faso Tour, 31 years later, get together 75 cyclists, around fifteen teams from all over the world. A colorful peloton, full of talents. A kind of “United cycling colors of Faso” Sylvain loves it. He talks about all the different nationalities cycling together as a colorful pack of cyclists, looking like the marbles of our childhood. “France (La Défense) is always part of the Tour du Faso, but also Germany (Embrace The World),  Netherlands (Global Cycling Team), Belgium (Team Flandres), Angola, Eritrea, and also Japan or countries from Maghreb very talented cycling countries and other African countries joining as neighbors.” 

Sylvain followed many stages of the Faso Tour on Burkina roads and took many beautiful pictures. “I work at the sports ministry of my country, which is deeply involved in the event. It pays for half of the budget”. As cycling, in Burkina, isn’t a showcase or a foil. It is a means of locomotion, a way of life. More than sports: “In Burkina Faso, Cycling is a symbol. Ouagadougou is the second capital city for two-wheelers in the world: 2,5 million inhabitants can cycle! Cycling in our culture, is a basic way of transport” says Sylvain.

The Faso Tour is very popular here. “This Tour is an homage to our people using cycles as a means of transport“ says Sylvain. Yes, bikes are a pilar in Africa.” What’s next? Sylvain hopes the Faso Tour will go to the upper level of UCI with more stages and teams coming from the five continents from now to 2025. “I would like to make the Tour famous worldwide. And reinforce international communication to present The Faso Tour through powerful international media.” We have no doubt Sylvain pictures will help the Tour to become famous.

July 2020

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