‘It was beautiful racing’ - Namibia hosts Africa’s first UCI women’s race in eight years

The 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift wasn’t the only landmark women’s race to conclude last Sunday. With much less fanfare, but still with significance to the sport, the Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Women Tour in Namibia also came to a close with a runaway winner draped in yellow. 

The race matters because it offers an opportunity for African women to compete against each other at UCI level for the first time since 2017, outside of national and continental championships. As well as being the first UCI women’s race in Africa for eight years, it’s also only the second UCI women’s stage race ever on the continent and the first UCI road race to be held in Namibia. The lack of high-level racing is one of the barriers that holds the sport back in Africa and other emerging regions.

The race was won by 23-year-old Rwandan Xaverine Nirere, who like Tour winner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, races multiple disciplines. She is most often seen all over the world racing on gravel, rather than tarmac. 

Riders from seven African nations took part, including several who are currently or formerly European-based. Nirere’s Team Amani took control from the beginning, smashing the opening hill-top individual time-trial with five riders in the top eight. Nirere put in her winning move on day three with a solo breakaway, taking advantage of a sleeping peloton to win by more than ten minutes.

Dan Craven, who raced in Europe for more than a decade, including for teams then known as Europcar and Israel Cycling Academy, was on hand as race director for the four-day event. As a rider from Namibia who made it as a professional in Europe, Craven knows just how important races like this are for the prospects of African riders.

“I did my first UCI race in the early 2000s, and it was the only UCI race in Southern Africa at the time,” Craven says over video call from his home in Namibia. “It was like, life revolved around that race… It was huge. So thinking about the impact that race had on my life, if that race hadn't existed, I don't know if I would have ever become a pro.”

Craven hopes that this race will continue for years to come and be that same centre-point for African riders to target. The opportunity for these riders to compete with one another is vital for their development.

With the first African road world championships taking place in Kigali later this year, the UCI hopes to see more African nations inspired to hold their own races and build the racing schedule across the continent for both women and men. Craven believes that if the Namibians can do it, so can plenty of other nations. 

“I come from a country where we don't have a Hollywood actor that's ever come from here. We've only ever had one Olympic gold medal. We've only had two Olympic medallists. We've never had an astronaut. You know, if you come from a place like this, you almost think those options aren't available to you or Namibians can't do that because no one's ever done it before,” Craven says.

“If you come from Namibia, it's like, ‘can you play in the Premier League?’ Oh, it's not possible. You know, the barriers to entry are ridiculous. If we've organised a UCI race, why can't the next country? If Namibia hosts a women’s tour, all of a sudden, South Africans are like, ‘hey, we can do that’.” 

“I definitely think that this race should inspire other African countries.”

Hosting a UCI race in Africa of course has its own unique challenges, but Craven praises the organising committee, on which he says he played a minor part, for their dedication in putting on the Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Women Tour. Craven describes the image of a CEO of a large Namibian company getting a brush out to sweep the corners as a metaphor for the attitude of the organisers and the culture of the race.

The three road stages were held on laps of Namibia’s wide highways, with the inside lanes closed off, separated from open traffic overtaking the peloton on the other side, to the stress of the UCI commissaire. The race went by without incident, although Craven recognises that there is still much to learn and develop in the coming years.

Many African races are put together on a bare bones budget, with race vehicles not up to standard and questionable hotels for riders and race officials. However, sponsorship from Pupkewitz, a Namibian motoring group with car dealerships across the country, meant that officials were cruising in BMWs and Lexuses, and riders were put up in some of Windhoek’s best hotels. 

However, with UCI races unable to take race fees from competing teams, all of this comes at a cost to the organisers. Craven says that if the race is to expand much beyond its ten participating teams, the budget will need to grow. 

“It's a lot of money that goes into these things,” Craven has realised. “This can be a big deal,” he continues. “Next year, with a few tweaks, this race can become significantly bigger and attract significantly more people. There hasn't been a women's [stage] race in Africa for 13 years. They want it, they need it, they deserve it. It was amazing.”

The race was supposed to take place in February of this year, but the death of Namibia’s first President, Sam Nujoma, just before it was due to take place meant it had to be postponed. 

Plans for 2026 are yet to be confirmed, but Craven believes that if the race does return to it’s original date, it could be ideal for bigger European teams to compete there.

“Every season [teams could] come out to Africa, on the same time zone as Europe. It's an overnight flight, it's a long flight, an expensive flight, but you stay on the same time zone. You come to warm weather, and basically you could do the tour and a training camp.”

“Essentially, if a team came out here a week in advance and stayed a few days afterwards, it would be such an amazing way to start the season. And it's altitude, so you can do some altitude training as well. So I think there's a lot of potential for this tour, and I'm really excited.”

While Team Amani showed themselves to be the strongest of the ten teams in attendance, the racing at the Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Women Tour also showed how much room these riders have to learn in the art of racecraft. 

Nirere is undoubtedly one of Africa’s best riders, but her win came through the tactical mis-steps of her rivals as much as it did the power in her legs. When she broke away from the peloton on the third stage, only the Mauritius national team put in a concerted effort to chase, with a little help from the Rwandans. The rest sat back and watched the race drift away from them. 

“I was a little bit disappointed in the decisions that were made there,” Craven reflects. “But at the same time, so many of these girls have not been in a tour like this before, so it's understandable.”

“She should not have been allowed to have opened up such a huge gap. But, man, she's strong. You have to be strong to open that gap.” 

Even though Amani were the strongest, they had the disadvantage of a lack of high-level experience, whereas others in the race have significant European experience, like Taneal Otto - winner of stage 4, who formerly raced for Belgian UCI team Duolar - Chevalmeire.

“Amani were definitely the strongest team. No questions about that,” Craven continued. “But I think also some of the South African riders definitely also have more racing experience. There was one part where there's was a bit of guttering happening and the Amani team didn't know what they were doing in the wind, in the gutter - this was reported to me from some of the other riders.” 

“But then they were all shouting do this and do that, and the Amani riders relatively quickly worked out what was going on and how to do it. So, you know, they were the strongest, but they were also still learning, which is great.”

The first stage Craven described as “extremely nervous,” and the second was characterised by Nirere’s solo break. However, the final day, according to the 2016 Olympian, was “beautiful” racing. “It was never a break up the road, it was more a race of attrition. On the last day, the convoy was allowed to be a little bit more compact, which means that I was, sort of, able to watch the racing in my rear-view mirror.”

“Everyone, after the last stage, all of the riders were just, like, on a high, because it was amazing racing. I could see that it was amazing racing from the car. It was multiple riders, multiple teams, attacking at different points, and aggressive, but never, like, a whole bunch of crumbling and falling apart.” 

“The last stage here was tactical, clever, movements on all sides, you know, teamwork. And there's a bunch of girls who've never seen that before, who've never raced in a bunch like that and here they are, in Africa, doing that, having that opportunity. That's just amazing.”

Just how much have the the 49 riders who took part in the first UCI race on African soil in eight years learned from those four days? And how much more could they learn if they were able to compete again somewhere else in the coming weeks?

Perhaps with the Kigali Worlds coming up, more nations will be motivated to put on a UCI women’s race on their roads. It’s vital for the future of the sport on the continent.