Samuel Anim wins stage 3 of Cowbell Bike Tour

Samuel Anim, favorite to win the longest stage of the competition, for once, in the race, missed the checkered flag.

Not only was the 24 year old beaten to the finish line in Osei Krome, he managed only a second place finish at the first 'hotspot' (Ataase Nkwanta);and lost the subsequent two hotspots at Adensi Asokwa junction, and Kuntenase.

"Today our strategy worked, I allowed my boy to go and take the yellow jersey so that we can keep it with a good time. When he's (Isaac Sackey) wearing the yellow jersey, I'm also wearing the yellow, because we are team mates," said, Anim with a grin.

This strategy successfully executed by the Young Stars team enabled Anim to keep his green and yellow jersey, while his colleague (Isaac) keeps the jersey with a time of 4 minutes, thus putting Young Stars in a comfortable position to win the 2013 tour barring any mishap.

Emmanuel Sackey, a formidable sprinter from All Stars, reached first at Atonsu (the finish line), a suburb in Kumasi, Isaac Sackey and Moro Yakubu closely followed in second and third positions.

After questioning the defending Champion Henry Tetteh Djanmah (Die Hard), about his team's lackluster performance he said: "We didn't do so bad, one of my boys (Moro Yakubu Egala) came third."

When quizzed further about his inability to break clear, and challenge for a podium position, the two time winner of the tour said,"Anim and the other big guys were in my peloton so no threat."

The current champion and other big names failed to realize Isaac sackey has come of age and had a respectable time that could easily catapult him to the top of the classification.

"Ghanaian cycling has come of age and these riders need to know that there is no 'small boy' anymore everyone should be considered a threat," Shaaban Mohammed told Joy Sports, as he shed light on what happened during the longest race of the tour.

Ahead of tomorrow's 120km race from Kumasi to Sunyani; all eyes will be on Isaac Sackey.

The decoy sprinter for Young Stars will relish the bliss to end the race first in Sunyani, as he did last year at the same stage.

The feat of the young all rounder at the fourth stage (Kumasi to Sunyani) last year earned him the 'maillot Jaune' (Yellow Jersey), until he subsequently lost it to William Nartey of HM Club after stage 8.