The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is pleased to announce that this June, four riders from the UCI World Cycling Centre's (WCC) development programmes claimed their national titles. Nesrine Houili, Jazilla Mwamikazi, Jadian Neaves and Georgette Vignonfodo each topped the podium at their respective National Championships.
The UCI WCC, which houses the UCI headquarters, is a high-level training and education centre based in Aigle, Switzerland, and operating since 2002. Three of the four athletes, Houili, Mwamikazi and Vignonfodo, race for the WCC Team, a UCI Women's Continental Team that gives riders from nations with fewer cycling resources access to racing at a higher level than back home. Neaves comes through a different but complementary strand: the UCI World Cycling Talent (WCT) programme, launched in 2026 to identify and develop promising young cyclists from across Asia, Africa, Oceania and America who otherwise lack the infrastructure and support to progress in the sport. Athletes on the UCI WCT programme are based in Brittany, France, and benefit from professional coaching and a structured programme of French regional races.
Nesrine Houili, Algeria
For Nesrine Houili, this year's Algerian National Championships proved memorable. Already a winner of the African Continental individual time trial (ITT) title, first claimed in 2022 and with several medals at the African Continental Championships since, she arrived having also competed in the road race at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In temperatures that touched 46 degrees Celsius, she left with both Elite titles, the road race and the ITT, a double made all the more notable after an injury that set back her preparations earlier in the season. Alongside her WCC Team commitments, Houili races in close partnership with the Algerian outfit that shaped much of her early career.
Jazilla Mwamikazi, Rwanda
At just 21, Jazilla Mwamikazi is already running out of Rwandan national titles to collect. Her Junior Road Race and ITT wins in 2022 set the tone, and after sweeping both the Under-23 ITT and the Elite Road Race in 2025, the WCC Team came calling. This June, she claimed the Elite ITT crown to complete a clean sweep of the Rwandan National ITT title across every age category, a feat that would be impressive at any age, let alone for a rider still in the early stages of her career.
Jadian Neaves, Trinidad and Tobago
Neaves turned in an impressive performance at the Trinidad and Tobago National Road Race Championships. As a representative of one of the eleven nations selected for the first phase of the UCI WCT programme, he claimed the Under 23 ITT title on the Saturday before taking the Elite road race on the Sunday. Neaves left the championships with two titles and a silver medal in the Elite ITT to his name, a testament to his strength.
Georgette Vignonfodo, Benin
Georgette Vignonfodo did not take up cycling until the age of 15, yet within three years of doing so she had become double Benin Junior National Champion and the first Beninese rider to join a UCI Women’s Continental Team. At this year's Benin National Championships, the 18-year-old showed no signs of slowing down, claiming the Under-23 ITT title and finishing runner-up in the Elite road race against older, more experienced fields.
A shared pathway, four different roads
Taken together, the four results paint a clear picture. Houili's double in the heat of the Algerian summer, Mwamikazi's steady climb to the Elite ITT crown, Neaves' weekend of titles in Trinidad and Tobago, and Vignonfodo's rapid rise through Benin's national ranks are four different stories with one common thread. Each rider has found in the UCI WCC and UCI WCT programmes a pathway that works, and each is making the most of it.
Jacques Landry, UCI World Cycling Centre Director, said: “These results deserve to be celebrated. Seeing four of our riders crowned National Champions in the same week is a proud moment for everyone at the UCI World Cycling Centre, and Nesrine, Jazilla, Jadian and Georgette deserve every bit of recognition that comes their way. They each come from countries where the pathway into professional cycling is far from straightforward, and what they've achieved this June is a reflection of their own dedication, as much as it is of the work our coaches and staff put in every day. This is exactly what the UCI World Cycling Centre and UCI World Cycling Talent programmes are designed to do. Give talented riders the tools they need to succeed, and then step back and watch them deliver.”