The UCI and Tour de France honour African cycling

A whole new experience for UCI WCC trainees

Africa and its cyclists have been in the spotlight at the last two stages of the 2024 Tour de France.

Three days after the historic victory of former UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) trainee Biniam Girmay at the third stage from Plaisance to Turin, eight of cycling’s most exciting young talents from Africa were able to meet the Eritrean and some of their other Tour de France idols when they were welcomed into the fold of yesterday’s sixth stage between Mâcon and Dijon.

Six of the Africans – two women and four men - are currently based in Brittany, France, where they are training and racing as part of the Africa 2025 project. Established by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and its World Cycling Centre (WCC), the aim of the project is to prepare some 18 athletes from the African continent for the 2025 UCI Road World Championships that will take place in Kigali, Rwanda, in September next year. They were joined at the Tour de France by two members of the UCI WCC’s UCI Women’s Continental Team.

Aged between 17 and 24, the eight African athletes were introduced before the beginning of yesterday’s stage at the signature podium, then cycled the last 30km of the stage behind the caravan, watched the finish, and took part in the award ceremony accompanied by UCI Director General Amina Lanaya. They also met with Tour de France General Director Christian Prudhomme and several athletes, including Girmay and his Intermarché Wanty teammate Louis Meintjes, of South Africa.

Rwandan Janvier Shyaka, who was crowned Men Junior National Champion in the road race in 2022 and in the time trial this year, said: “I was so excited to see all these great riders and I have seen so many things I can barely believe my eyes. The best was to stand with Biniam wearing the green jersey, on the podium. That was amazing, and a big inspiration for me.”

After meeting one of her idols, Mathieu Van der Poel, Egypt’s Women Junior road race and time trial National Champion Alaliaa Darwish said: “This has been such a big and special day. I am so motivated to race now. Watching all this is a motivation to go and get better, so I can be here one day. I have smiled so much today it hurts but I can’t stop smiling. I am sure I will have more muscles in my face after all this smiling.”

Individual time trial on a Qhubeka bike

The African focus continued at today’s seventh stage, an individual time trial between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin. Before the official start of the time trial, Eritrean Awet Aman Goniche, one of the athletes on the UCI WCC's Africa 2025 project, rode the 25.3km route on a Qhubeka bike, identical to the some 2000 financed by the Tour de France since 2018 to enable African students to ride to school.

As part of the African celebrations at the Tour de France this week, an official delegation from the Local Organising Committee of next year’s UCI Road World Championships – the first to be held on the African continent – was also present, including the President of Rwanda’s National Federation (FERWACY), Samson Ndayishimiye. Their visit coincided with the 30th anniversary of liberation on 4th July, marking the end of the 1994 genocide.

UCI President David Lappartient said: “Just over one year out from our first UCI Road World Championships to be held in Africa, it is fantastic to see the continent’s talented young riders experiencing the atmosphere and racing at the 2024 Tour de France. The UCI and UCI WCC have a solid strategy in place to prepare these young cyclists for their ‘home’ UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda, next year and their visit to the 6th stage of the Tour de France serves as an added motivation for them. The UCI and UCI WCC have been supporting African riders for many years, and continue to closely follow the exploits of their former trainee athletes, such as Daniel Teklehaimanot, Merhawi Kudus and of course Biniam Girmay, who trained with us in Aigle, Switzerland, in 2019.”

Tour de France General Director Christian Prudhomme said: "Three days ago in Turin, Biniam Girmay marked the history of a Tour de France that is increasingly more open to Africa, following in the footsteps of the African riders who paved the way before him: Robert Hunter, Daryl Impey, Daniel Teklehaimanot and Merhawi Kudus... We have been striving for years to strengthen the link between the cycling of champions and everyday cycling. This African sequence is entirely in step with this idea to inspire the young people who will be the champions of tomorrow while enabling thousands of others to emancipate themselves through cycling, through the solidarity actions we carry out in conjunction with the Qhubeka association."

The African trainee athletes who were at the Tour de France this week were:

Africa 2025 Project participants

Awet Aman Goniche, 21, Eritrea

Mohammed Aziz Dellai, 20, Tunisia

Janvier Shyaka, 19, Rwanda

Monique du Plessis, 21, Namibia

Alaliaa Darwish, 18, Egypt

Kevin Nshutiraguma, 17, Rwanda

Members of UCI Women’s Continental Team, WCC Team

Valentine Nzayisenga, 24, Rwanda

Lize-Ann Louw, 22, South Africa.

They were accompanied to the Tour de France by Ethiopian former pro Tsgabu Grmay, who competed in the Tour de France three times between 2016 and 2018. Also a former UCI WCC trainee, he is now a coach for the UCI WCC’s Continental Development Satellite in Paarl, South Africa and is supporting the athletes during their stay in Brittany.