‘We need bigger cogs’ – African cycling beyond the World Championships

Can major sporting events catalyse a more sustainable future for the host nation? 

WCC Head of Training and Development Jacques Landry’s answer is a resounding yes. The Kigali 2025 UCI Road World Championships mark the culmination of the World Cycling Centre Africa’s (WCCA) Africa 2025 programme, supporting a dozen junior and under-23 African riders over the last three years to train for both Kigali 2025 and prospective professional careers.

“I think there will be a few riders from the programme that will shine,” Landry tells Domestique. Georgette Vignonfodo, Jazilla Mwamikazi, and Tsige Kashay Kiros have all signed with the WCC’s Women’s Continental Team for next season. 

“They’ve been able to show what they can do in European races and show us that they’ve got potential.” Landry hopes that glimmers of performance, such as Kashay Kiros turning heads at this year’s Tour de l’Avenir Femmes, will inspire younger generations of riders and national federations in emerging nations.

“People tend to think that the World Cycling Centre is here to create champions because you look at the likes of Chris Froome and Biniam Girmay,” says Landry, who oversees the WCC’s athlete and coaching development programmes at UCI headquarters in Aigle, Switzerland, and satellite centres around the world. 

Instead, he argues that winning races is a “happy byproduct” of the WCC’s mission to progress cycling in emerging nations and stimulate human development. “There are 154 national federations that we would consider emerging out of 204,” he says – just over 75%.

The number of African cyclists at World Tour level is dwindling, however, and the UCI has been criticised for not doing enough to support African riders in transitioning to the professional ranks. 

Landry acknowledges that there used to be many more races on the UCI Africa Tour; the 2015 calendar included 34 races, with the Tour du Rwanda the highest profile, whereas there were only 11 in 2025. “If you have no racing calendar, you’re not developing athletes.”

The UCI has been working with the Rwandan Cycling Federation (FERWACY) to develop a racing calendar that endures in the host nation beyond Kigali 2025, such as the Youth Racing Cup established in 2023. “More races in Africa mean more competitive African riders and more pathways to race in Europe,” Landry continues. “Cycling is still very Eurocentric. If you want to be able to progress, you have to come to Europe.”

Getting to Europe is only part of the challenge, though. Landry believes there is a “massive talent pool” in Africa for European teams to draw on, but it takes a team that understands how to surround African riders with a supportive social structure, rather than leaving them isolated as the sole African in a team. Landry credits Intermarché–Wanty’s approach as a key factor behind Biniam Girmay’s success.

“This is where the Africa 2025 programme has worked well,” he explains, “because we’ve had athletes including Egyptians, Tunisians, Rwandans, Eritreans, Beninese, South Africans, and Mauritians all under one roof to support each other.”

Africa 2025 riders have participated in camps at WCCA headquarters in Paarl, South Africa, experienced high-speed technical racing in Brittany, and, most recently, completed 1,500-metre altitude training in Nyamata, Rwanda, on the way to the Worlds. 

Final preparations have also included joining 70 junior and under-23 riders from 40 African national federations for part of WCCA training camps in Nyamata and Rwamagana, which began on 1 September and will continue until the end of Kigali 2025 on 28 September.

A second African satellite centre opened in Rwanda earlier this year, divided between three locations and focuses: altitude training in Musanze, flatter speed work in Rwamagana, and grassroots learning in Bugesera. The WCC envisions national federations and teams using the satellite’s facilities for altitude, heat, and humidity training camps ahead of races like the Tour du Rwanda.

The second edition of the Rwanda Junior Tour was held in 2025, the only junior African race of its kind for both men and women (the Tour du Rwanda is a men’s-only race). Although the junior edition does not yet have UCI sanctioning, Landry believes that Kigali 2025 will be a “catalyst” to make this happen.

He also recognises that the WCC is not the only organisation trying to improve African riders’ prospects and increase their numbers on professional teams, citing Africa Rising and Team AMANI.

“I like to think we’re a cog in that machinery,” he illustrates, “but we need bigger cogs.”