From 4-14 March, Rwandan Adrien Niyonshuti was in Aigle (Switzerland) – home of the UCI’s World Cycling Centre – to attend the UCI’s Level Two Coaching Course for two weeks.
For background, Adrien is Rwanda’s most successful professional cyclist in history, racing at World Tour level for several years and representing his country at two Olympics, firstly London 2012 in the Men’s Elite Mountain Bike race, and secondly Rio 2016 in the Men’s Elite Road Race.
Adrien was one of the original pioneers of African cyclists in the pro peloton, joining Doug Ryder’s MTN Energade Road Team squad in 2009, and staying with the various iterations of this team through 2015, and then racing two seasons (2016, 2017) when this team achieved World Tour status. He joined Team Africa Rising in 2018 as one of our technical experts, and became Head Coach of Benin Cycling in 2022.
Continuing improvement, education, and knowledge of the very latest equipment and techniques is a vital aspects of any elite sport, however cycling is a different level when it comes to managing the performance of an athlete’s mind, body and equipment.
We spoke with Adrien about being invited to the course, how he found it, and next steps:
“It was really amazing to be there for me! It was a very special moment when the Benin Federation supported this application, as I have wanted to take this Level Two Coaching Certificate course at the UCI World Cycling Centre for a long time. Their belief in me is so heart-warming, and I truly appreciate the opportunity they have given me to be the Head Coach of the National Team. Attending this course is a vital part of my growth as a senior coach, and I will use everything I learnt to directly impact and improve the growth of cycling for men and women from Benin.”
The Benin Cycling Federation is run by Romuald Hazoumè – a world famous artist in his own right – who is hyper-passionate about growing men’s and women’s cycling in Benin, and across West Africa. Romuald is becoming a more and more powerful voice in the sport across the continent, and is determined for Benin to be a beacon for how to develop cycling infrastructure sustainably and effectively.
We asked Romuald for his views on Adrien’s attendance at this course:
“Our goal in Benin is to develop cycling. For this, Team Africa Rising’s help has been crucial, by supporting us with selecting Adrien Niyonshuti as our senior coach. It is thanks to him that we have taken another step in developing our cycling program. Today, we are proud as a Cycling Federation to give him the means to better support us; that’s why this diploma he has just brilliantly obtained makes us proud. He must continue because he is capable of even greater things, and we will support him so that he becomes a pre-eminent trainer for Benin’s coaches, who will obviously follow in his footsteps.”
We asked Adrien to talk more about the details of his time on the course:
“It was so helpful to broaden my understanding of the different disciplines of cycling, as there are so many aspects that can be brought to bear on helping my athletes. I know road and mountain bike well, but I learnt a lot about the track, BMX and the importance of pump track skills for younger athletes.”
He continues:
“Alongside the bike handling content, we really went deep into many of the vital aspects of bike maintenance and mechanic skills. I had actually forgotten that a lot of my knowledge on how to look after my bicycle still comes from growing up in Rwanda, where we just used whatever basic tools and equipment were available. And when I was a professional rider, the mechanics took care of everything!“
“It is so good to have a complete refresh of my knowledge of how to keep racing bikes in the best condition: Even small things like cleaning and greasing cables before putting into the cable housings is rare in Africa as we don’t have access to those light greases for this.”
Adrien went on to talk about how many of the people on the course were actually riders who he raced with/against in road and mountain bike racing so it was both lovely to catch up with them personally, but also very helpful as the cycling community is a close-knit network so refreshing your connections is very important. Always at pro races, you see sports directors and mechanics talking to their friends and peers, borrowing equipment, talking tactics etc. Adrien is a very familiar face still in world cycling.
In this vein, he also mentioned how good it was to see Jean-Jacques Henry (the UCI’s Education & Talent Detection Manager) who Adrien has known for many years, and credits him with being one of the stars of the UCI in terms of his passion, his willingness and energy to help the African riders and staff, and for always being available to talk, day or night!
After successfully receiving his Level Two Coaching Certificate course at the end of the course, Adrien has now returned to his family home in Lucca (Italy). He will the head back to Benin in April for continued coaching work, and preparing his team for the 2025 Tour du Benin, which starts on the 28 April.
In terms of next steps in Adrien’s coaching journey, we expect to see him on the next and final level course which takes place later in 2025 – The UCI Level 3 (Diploma). This qualification is aimed at experienced coaches who will be working either with their National Team or with National level riders so the perfect next step for Adrien’s development.
To conclude, in Adrien’s words:
I want to use this new knowledge to improve the sport of cycling in Benin, from this course, from my time as a professional in the World Tour and the next and final course. It is my responsibility to do so as the young riders in Benin are very serious about their career and they understand they need to improve and learn, and so must I alongside them. I am looking forward to the future in Benin, where I can have one or two, or five of six, or even ten riders with the potential to go pro, who I want to get to JP van Zyl’s WCC hub in South Africa, to the WCC HQ in Switzerland, and then into the pro peloton. The future is bright for Benin cycling!”
