‘The size of the peloton is huge and the style of the racing is completely different,’ says Merhawit Hadush Asgodom. At 21, she is one of the youngest riders in Team Amani, an African squad made up of riders from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The women’s road team, whose name means ‘peace’ in Swahili, was started in 2025 as a project to enable African cyclists to race internationally, but adapting to racing in France and Spain is proving to be somewhat challenging.