Biniam Girmay was up against the metal barriers when the bunch sprint was launched in Turin. With just 500 metres to go, Mads Pedersen, Arnaud de Lie and Fabio Jakobsen got out of their saddles and stomped on the pedals. They were the favourites for the third Italian stage of the 2024 Tour de France and everyone else was a supporting actor.
It was Girmay, though, who was brave and held on, becoming the first black African in the race’s history to win a stage.
“Ever since I started cycling, I’ve always been dreaming to be part of the Tour de France,” Girmay said. “But now, I can’t believe it, to win at the Tour de France in my second year in a big bunch sprint, for me it is unbelievable.”
Girmay, who was born in Asmara in Eritrea, went on to win two more stages of last year’s Tour. He would also put on the sprinters’ Green Jersey after stage five and was still wearing it when the race ended in Nice. Not only was he the first black African stage winner, then, he was the first African to win the Green Jersey and a symbol that there were green shoots of cycling success in a continent that has rarely had a starring role in professional cycling.
Eritrea’s Girmay makes history by roaring to victory in the third stage of the 2024 Tour de France in Turin, on his way to securing the Green Jersey as the race’s leading sprinter
DANIEL COLE/AP
Now Africa is once again the centre of the cycling world as the UCI World Championships are about to begin in Kigali, Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills. Between September 21 and 28, the cycling circus will entertain the spectators at the roadside as well as those watching on TV, as the best riders fight for the rainbow bands. It is also the first time the championships have taken place in Africa.
In many ways, Kigali is the perfect place to race a bicycle. There are many challenging hills and mountains, an enthusiastic public and plenty of cobbled roads for those who like their cycling of the northern-French and Belgian persuasion. It is also 1,567m above sea level, 500m above even Andorra, where many pro cyclists live and train. And like the arrosticini often handed out to riders at the Giro d’Italia from the side of the road in Abruzzo, Rwanda is famous for its skewered meats, or brochettes.
More than similarities with the established races, however, it is hoped this event can show something new to the cycling world, and establish Africa as a continent whose competitors may one day rival Europe’s as they do in other endurance events, such as long-distance running.
“Africa has so much to offer in terms of talent, maybe even more talent than we’ve seen in Europe,” says Kenyan-born Chris Froome on the TNT Sports documentary Cycling Africa. “You only need to look at the marathon runners to understand, as an endurance sport, Africa really has a massive, massive potential which has largely remained untapped until now.”
Froome — who won the Tour de France four times after leaving Kenya for South Africa, then Great Britain — with his mentor David Kinja and the Kenyan cyclists of his former team, the Safari Simbaz, during a visit to Nairobi in 2013
SIMON MAINA/GETTY
Froome had to leave Kenya for South Africa, then switch his allegiance to Great Britain, before he could fully unlock his own potential and go on to win four Tours de France, so how does the continent unlock its “massive potential” and retain that homegrown talent?
“Passion for cycling is natural here,” Samson Ndayishimiye, the president of the Rwandan Cycling Federation, told the Africa News Agency. “For a long time, in Rwanda, people have used bikes for everyday work; it’s a mode of transport. Many exercise without realising it. Cycling is the only sport that comes directly to people’s doorsteps.”
But while cycling is popular, there are issues at the grassroots level that prevent Rwandan riders from reaching the upper echelons of the sport. Despite top races, such as the Tour of Rwanda, attracting the best European talent, more needs to be done to get young Africans racing their bikes. Only one Rwandan rider has ever competed in the World Tour: Adrien Niyonshuti with Team Dimension Data.
“When you look at athletics and you look at a Kenyan runner, for example, what do they need? A pair of sneakers, basically,” says Jacques Landry, the director of the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC). “The biggest barrier for us is bikes. Obviously you need to have bikes to be able to practise your trade.”
Cycling is hugely popular in Africa — as was evident from the size of the crowds that came out to watch the 2024 Tour of Rwanda — but racing is beyond most people because of the costs involved
AFP
Rwanda has one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, and one of the youngest populations with a median age of about 20, but still 56 per cent of the population live on less than $1.90 a day according to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. A young person who is keen on getting into racing, then, hits a barrier immediately when a top-level bike costs about £13,000 — not to mention all the equipment and resources required to be competitive.
The WCC has been trying to distribute bikes to those who need them but something else has to be done at the policy and governmental level to encourage young people with talent to continue up the ladder to success. That means not just money for bikes but more junior and under-23 races to go alongside the likes of the Tour of Rwanda — a pathway to the top of the sport.
More than that, it is about creating an infrastructure independent from Europe.
“We’re educating more and more coaches in Africa,” Landry says. “The idea a lot of times is when we go anywhere with the WCC, [other nations] want a European coach. That’s not the key. The key is not to parachute coaches into whatever country, because they’re going to do the job and then leave.
Locals line the streets as the peloton streams by in Kigali during last year’s Tour of Rwanda
GUILLEM SARTORIO/GETTY
“One of the key elements is knowledge transfer from European coaches who have that century-old cycling culture behind them and bring that culture within the country to the coaches that can and will be staying to help that country grow the sport.”
As well as coaches, the WCC is training mechanics and race organisers to create something that can operate on its own, using the expertise of the UCI. But these things take time. Rwanda, and Africa more broadly, has plenty of talent and we are starting to see that with riders such as Girmay, Kim le Court of Mauritius, and Rwanda’s own Djazilla Mwamikazi, who competed at the Tour de l’Avenir Femmes this year, but it will take decades to rival Europe. Even Girmay had to be patient to get to where he is now, longer than a European athlete might.
By the time a European cyclist is 21, they are ready to turn pro (or even win the Tour de France in Tadej Pogacar’s case), they have raced thousands of hours and trained for thousands more. Girmay was spotted by a UCI scout and taken to the WCC in Switzerland in 2018. He was already 18 when he started to train to the standard it now takes to reach the World Tour, and it was a further six years before he was able to win in Turin. To find the Girmays of tomorrow, nations need to start now.
Pogacar arrives at Kigali Airport for the World Championships and a gruelling week on the road in the “land of a thousand hills”
SHUTTERSTOCK
“Africa can rival Europe if we count progression over decades and not years,” Landry says. “But that means the momentum that’s created from these World Championships needs to continue after. And I think over a decade or two, you could see it if there’s proper investment, not only in money, but in energy and knowledge.”
These World Championships are not without controversy, particularly around Rwanda’s human rights record, accusations that president Paul Kagame is an authoritarian leader, and the uneasy relationship with the neighbouring DRC, which exploded into conflict this year before a peace deal was brokered. But there is a feeling the championships are positive for Rwanda and the continent.
Huge crowds are expected to line the routes for the week-long festival of cycling. As well as the children who may be inspired, so too might governments and policy-makers who see the potential of investing in this sport. So many people in Rwanda are already riding bikes; it is not such a big leap to racing them.
“The championships put Rwanda in the spotlight, attracting opportunities,” Ndayishimiye said. “Rwanda is a visa-free country for all African countries, making it easy for businesses. We hope the event will attract investment, and personally, I dream of a major cycling company setting up a factory in Rwanda.”
With all eyes on Rwanda, the benefits to tourism and the economy more widely will surely make other nations in Africa feel they, too, should explore cycling and try to take the fight to Europe.
UCI World Championships
September 21-28
Kigali, Rwanda
TV BBC/TNT Sports