For the second year running, a group of African road cyclists has set up base in Brittany, France, as part of the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) Africa 2025 strategy.
The group is training and racing in Europe to prepare for major international competitions, in particular the 2025 UCI Road World Championships that will take place in Kigali, Rwanda. To ensure the Africans are ready to perform well at the first ever UCI Road World Championships to be held on the African continent, the UCI WCC set up the Africa 2025 project at the end of 2022 for some of the most promising young athletes from African countries.
So far in 2024, this has included training camps at the UCI World Cycling Centre Africa (WCCA), in Paarl, South Africa, the Tour de Rwanda for some, the Tour d’Algérie for others, and now training and racing in Europe, accompanied by professional coaching and technical staff from the UCI WCC and WCCA.
On their way to Brittany, the 18 cyclists spent several days at the UCI WCC in Aigle, Switzerland, for bike fitting and to collect their equipment and clothing. We caught up with three of them as they transited through Switzerland.
Alaliaa Benbella is Egyptian Junior Champion in both the road race and time trial. But for the recently-turned 18-year-old, the true test is racing in Europe. The National Champion was part of the Africa 2025 programme last year and could not wait to return to Brittany for the 2024 training camp:
I love racing in Europe. It’s very, very difficult…. the level is very high. It’s a new experience. Everything is new, the people, the weather, it’s good, very good.
“The coaches are good with us. If I’m not good in a race they say ‘no you need to practice this in this race, you need to learn this in this race.’ It’s very supportive. They make sure we eat healthily, and they take care of all athletes.”
Janvier Shyaka only started cycling in 2021 and already has three titles of Junior National Champion to his name: in the road race in 2022, in the individual time trial this year, and also in mountain bike cross-country. This year, at the age of 18, he competed in the Tour de Rwanda as part of the UCI WCC Men’s Team.
For the moment his favourite cyclist is his cousin, former professional rider Adrien Niyonshuti, who opened a cycling academy upon retiring from competition: “He taught me how to be a professional cyclist, he showed me everything and he helped me my whole life in cycling.”
Janvier Shyaka is now adding new strings to his bow in Europe: “It means a lot to me (to train with this team) because I learn skills about the bicycle, skills about technology… how to use your computer…
“They make sure we are disciplined, on time and take care of our stuff… then they make sure we do well in training. They teach us to be a professional in the future!”
Twenty-one-year-old Awet Aman began cycling in 2016, inspired by fellow Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot, a former UCI WCC trainee who turned professional and wore the polka dot jersey at the 2015 Tour de France.
One of Aman’s stand-out results so far is finishing 3rd best Under-23 rider at stage 3 of the 2023 Tour de Rwanda. His result earned him an invitation to train with the group preparing for the 2025 UCI Road World Championships, and he is drinking up the experience: “I believe it is a wonderful opportunity for me to transfer to the big riding teams! Generally speaking, we came from different countries but were organized as a team, like brothers and a family; that’s what I really liked.”
Listen to more excerpts from their interviews in this video produced with UCI partner Shimano: