Welcome to our Live Blog / News Service on all things African women’s cycling! We will try and capture all breaking news, key developments, race results, and anything else we think you will enjoy reading…
January 2026
13 January: African Women’s National Champions are far out-performing the men! That’s the big headline – so far – in the 2026 contract news! In 2025, 19 Men’s Elite National Champions were named across Africa, but only three of them have pro deals in 2026. On the women’s side, the stat is more than double, with seven of the 17 Women’s Elite National Champions securing pro riders in 2026!
Several teams are still to be announced officially on the UCI or ProCyclingStats websites – our definitive sources of information – (see TBCs below), but we can share that these women should be riding on a World Tour/Pro Continental/Continental teams in 2026 (sorted by their final 2025 UCI ranking):
- Mauritius: Kim Le Court (AG Insurance – Soudal Team)
- Eritrea: Monaliza Araya (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation)
- South Africa: S’annara Grove (Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team)
- Rwanda: Jazilla Mwamikazi (Team: TBC)
- Algeria: Nesrine Houili (Team: TBC)
- Uganda: Mary Aleper (Team: TBC)
- Ethiopia: Haftu Eyerusalem Reda (Team: TBC)
In addition, as mentioned below, the Ethiopian Women’s Junior Champion Tsige Kahsay Kiros will race for the CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation team, and we can reveal that the Women’s Junior champion of Benin – Georgette Vignonfodo – has also secured a pro ride for 2026 (Team TBC)!
Georgette will be the first ever professional rider in Benin’s history. Her coach is Adrien Niyonshuti, who was the first professional rider in Rwanda’s history, so congratulations to both Georgette and Adrien on this moment!
7 January: One of our team was interviewed on the BBC World Service’s NewsDay programme this morning and he talked through some exciting transfer and 2026 news stories, including Tsige Kahsay Kiros joining the CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation team, Kim Le Court’s brilliant year, and a preview of the 2026 Africa Tour, including the Women’s Tour of Burundi. You can listen to the piece here (the cycling piece starts at 39:36) or click play on the image below.
December 2025
29 December: Our partners at ProCyclingStats are running their annual #Favorite500 league table across the end of year holidays, showcasing the top 500 world riders as voted by their millions of followers. Happy to share that Kim Le Court of the AG Insurance-Soudal World Tour team is the top African female rider in the rankings, rising 344 places to #143 due to her incredible performances in 2025! Kudos Kim!
27 December: We got an alert today from our friends in Ethiopia to share that the rising star of African women’s cycling – Ethiopia’s Tsige Kahsay Kiros – has just been named as the ‘Best Rider of The Year’ in the Tigray region, voted for by commissars and regional federation members, and retired riders.
22 December: As mentioned on 20 November below, the Tshenolo Pro Cycling team in South Africa is building an elite squad of African women, with the plan to launch a Women’s UCI Continental team later in 2026, for the 2027 season – great to see indeed.
Tshenolo have now signed four exciting female riders to their squad: Taneal Otto, Megan Botha, Maude Le Roux, and Lize-Ann Louw! Several of these riders bring significant international racing experience to the squad. They join existing team members Lucy Young, Sonica Klopper, Faith Tuhwe and Monique du Plessis to form a very strong women’s squad from across several nations for 2026!
Each rider’s name is a link to their ProCyclingStats bio, and check out the Tshenolo Pro Cycling Team Instagram page for more information and further announcements!
19 December: The brilliant media feedback on Monaliza Araya’s two year deal with the CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation team has travelled all the way to Australia, with her news being featured on the SBS Sport cycling podcast – one of the leading cycling podcasts in the world! Listen here (go to 2:50).
16 December: The news of Monaliza’s signing has hit the cycling and mainstream press worldwide, and the Eritrean cycling fans are celebrating this news across all social media channels! This morning, we spoke to the BBC World Service’s NewsDay team about this great moment for Eritrean cycling.
Click on this link (at 07:47) to listen to the whole interview. We hope you enjoy!
15 December: We are SO EXCITED to finally share that current dual Eritrean National Champion Monaliza Araya Chneslasie is joining the CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation team on a two-year contract!
The 21-year-old from Adi Akelo in Southern Eritrea, perched at over 2000 metres above sea level is thrilled to be joining her first UCI-level team. Cycling is deeply embedded in Eritrea’s culture, making bike-riding instincts and knowledge feel like second nature to Monaliza. The extraordinary support that Eritrean superstar Biniam Girmay receives in Europe offers just a small preview into the passionate cycling community at home, and Monaliza’s own introduction to the sport reflects that heritage:
“When I was a child, I used a bike to go to school, and that’s when I started to love cycling. I also enjoyed watching races in our village. I am so excited to be part of the team. In my first season, I expect to learn a lot, to be competitive in the races I will take part in, and to aim for good results.”
CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation Sports Director, Gosia Jasinska, expresses strong confidence and belief in one of Eritrea’s leading talents.
“I met Monaliza at the World Championship in Rwanda, and a few weeks before that we had already been in contact because she wanted to join our team. I saw that she was very motivated and determined, and that she was one of the strongest African riders in the Worlds road race. After the race, we spoke together and I saw a lot of passion in her; she wanted to go to Europe to race her bike and to show that she’s a capable rider. I think she has the potential to be a strong puncheur and also a good time trialist. We will need to work on her bike skills and communication, but that aside, she has a huge passion for cycling. I believe this is the key to growing into a great rider, because without that passion, nothing truly amazing will happen.”
In 2025, Monaliza claimed both the Eritrean national time trial and road race titles, sealing the latter with a devastating long-range sprint against two rivals. These added to a 2022 elite road race crown and her junior double from 2021. On the continental stage, Monaliza and her Eritrean teammates have captured both the African Games and African Championship TTT titles. At the most recent African Championships in November 2025, she secured bronze in the U23 Time Trial, highlighting her potential against the clock and showing that she’s firmly on track towards one of her long-term ambitions – becoming Africa’s best time trialist. You can see her full palmares on ProCyclingStats of course!
Monaliza is the first Eritrean female rider to proudly carry her nation’s flag on the international stage as a pro rider on a World Tour development team. She is the fifth and final rider to be announced for CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation in 2026, joining fellow new recruits Sophie Alisch, Erja Bianchi, Tsige Kahsay Kiros and Weronika Wąsaty.
We have updated our live Contracts & Transfers Tracker and more news to come in the next week or so…
4 December: It is the off-season but good to see Africa’s pro female riders out there keeping fit and getting their training riders in! 25yo South African Tiffany Keep of the UK’s DAS – Hutchinson women’s Continental team posted some training pictures of her out with Kim Le Court (AG Insurance -Soudal) and a large group of female riders. Great to see! Give Tiffany a follow on her Instagram to keep up with her!
Both these riders have confirmed contracts for 2026, and beyond, with their teams. We are still waiting to hear about the dozen or more other female riders rumoured to be racing at Continental level in 2026. We will report this news as soon as their teams have confirmed their place on their rosters.
3 December: So the biggest news in African women’s cycling – in terms of transfers – broke late last week, with the fantastic news that 18yo wonder Tsige Kahsay Kiros (mentioned a few times on this newsfeed across 2025!) from Ethiopia has agreed a three year deal with the brilliant Canyon // SRAM zondacrypto Generation team, who both race at the UCI Continental level and have a World Tour level sister team. This give’s Tsige a really clear route to the big time, if she works hard to achieve it.
In addition, and incredibly importantly, this team has a great heritage in supporting young African female athletes, alongside a stellar race calendar. Rider development on these teams is all about the ability to help them and then give them access to race against the best in the world.
The news about Tsige was broken first by CyclingNews on Friday 28 November with her team sharing a post across their social media channels and further media coverage by Bicycling Australia writer Peter Maniaty (see story 9), ProCycling UK and hundreds of posts by the hugely passionate cycling fans in Ethiopia and the Tigray region. We also posted an in-depth piece about Tsige’s news on our News-wire if you want to read more about her career so far.
Everyone here at Africa Rising wishes Tsige and her new team-mates a hugely successful 2026!
November 2025
26 November: So the ACCC (African Continental Cycling Championships) have concluded and there are seven new female Africa Champions jerseys out there being worn proudly by their new owners! They are:
- Women Elite: Road Race – Hayley Preen (South Africa) / ITT – Lucy Young (South Africa)
- Women U23: Road Race – Claudette Nyirarukundo (Rwanda) / ITT – Nesrine Houili (Algeria)
- Women Junior: Road Race – Tsige Kahsay Kiros (Ethiopia) / ITT: Tsige Kahsay Kiros (Ethiopia)
- Mixed Relay TTT: Aurelie Halbwachs / Raphaëlle Lamusse / Lucie de Marigny-Lagesse (Mauritius)
As mentioned in our wrap-up report of the ACC (you can see this here), it was a great event with many new faces showing their potential. This will all fuel the final 2026 contracts being agreed and we hope to see some BIG announcements in the next week or so regarding some of the names who showed what they have to offer. We will of course keep you updated on here, and our Live Contracts Tracker.
20 November: Well that was an exciting day of racing at the ACCC, with all the ITTs taking place. All were moved to just 14km so was a burn-fest with riders hitting 50km/h+ average speeds on the relatively flat course. A full write-up can be found on our ACCC live Newsfeed HERE and kudos to the new women’s champions: Lucy Young (Elite), Nesrine Houili (U23) and Tsige Kahsay Kiros (Junior)!
Whilst speaking to Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, ex-World Tour/TDF pro about his strong second place, he mentioned that his current club team – Tshenolo Pro Racing – have applied for UCI Continental licenses for both their Men’s and Women’s teams! Their potential roster for a women’s team is very impressive (including WE ITT winner Lucy Young) and we look forward to hearing more about this in due course!
18 November: It is African Continental Cycling Championships (ACCC) 2026 week and over 300 athletes and delegates have descended on Kwale County in SE Kenya for the races this week. The first day of racing (20th) is taken up with the Individual Time Trials, with the Mixed Relay and Road Races kicking off on Friday (21st).
There will be a new African Women’s Elite Road Race Champion crowned this weekend with current champion Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio confirmed as not racing. Mauritius’ Kim Le Court is also not present, as well as 2025 South African Women’s Elite National Champion S’annara Grove. We are also surprised to hear two of the main Ugandan women – Canyon/SRAM’s Florence Nakagwa and 2025 National Champion Mary Aleper are both not attending the event.
Relative unknown 22yo Monalisa Araya (Eritrea) will start and as reigning Eritrea Women’s Elite Road Race champion, she has serious credentials. Algeria’s National Champion Nesrine Houili is also in with a good chance. She has been supported by Africa’s #1 Men’s team, Madar Pro Cycling in 2025 so is in great shape.
Fast rising Mauritius have young star 25yo Lucie Lagesse flanked by two more mature riders, Aurelie Halbwachs and Raphaëlle Lamusse, and they will be hunting medals. Benin’s 2025 National Champion Charlotte Metoevi will also hope to show on the flat course, but will the final climb be too much for her?
The strong Ethiopian duo of Serkalen Taye Watango and Hadush Merhawit Asgodom are great riders. However, a long flat course might not suit them. Their country’s World Championship hero Tsige Kahsay Kiros is a major favourite for the Women’s Junior Road Race, especially with the very hard climb at the finish. She will be marked closely of course! Tsige will join one of the world’s best development teams for 2026, more on this soon when we can share!
South Africa’s Lucy Young was 10m down on the Ethiopian ladies at the Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Women Tour in August, but just a minute back on Kim Le Court at the recent Ride Joburg. Could she be hunting a winner’s jersey? Hayley Preen might also be looking for a big moment, finishing second to S’annara Grove in the National Champs back in February.
The Women’s Elite Road Race is wide open right now!
Check out the start-lists for all the ITTs, and our thoughts on several ‘riders to watch’ on our new ACCC Live Newsfeed HERE.
We will of course have one of our team on the ground in Kenya to report on all the breaking news, race results etc on our social media channels (X, Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube, TikTok, Linkedin) and of course we are helping athletes directly as well, shipping in many kg of vital equipment and nutrition!
15 November: Some big news in regards African women’s cycling, with the announcement of a women’s continental team by the management of Rwandan-registered Team Amani. Launched at the Rouleur Live event in London (UK), details of the squad are not too clear but 23-yo Rwandan Xaverine Nirere was confirmed as being signed to the team, her first professional contract. Congratulations Xaverine!
With only one women’s UCI race in Africa currently – the Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Women Tour which launched in 2025 but is sadly rumoured to not be a UCI race in 2026 – finding races for the team is going to be a big challenge. Competition for quality rider signings will be pretty tough with the 2025 Rwandan, Ethiopian and South African women’s national road champions already heading to good international teams in 2026. Other top riders from South Africa, Mauritius, Algeria and Benin have already signed to teams as well.
There are substantial rumours that the Canyon // SRAM zondacrypto Generation (Continental) team will not renew the contracts of Diane Ingabire (Rwanda), Florence Nakagwa (Uganda), Maddie Le Roux (South Africa) and maybe others, so the new Amani team could be a potential new home for these rider? With them struggling to make an impact at the highly competitive UCI Continental level, will they good enough prospects to warrant the investment? We will of course report any confirmed contract announcements when confirmed on here, our social channels and our 2026 Contracts Tracker.
The team, registered in Ethiopia, counts 39-year old 2025 African Continental Champion and World Tour pro Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio as a mentor/advisor. Ashleigh is beginning her transition out of the saddle in professional cycling, with 2026 being her final year with the AG Soudal – Insurance Team.
This does raise some interesting questions which will need to be resolved: Her AG team already has a Continental development team, can she mentor/advise riders on two UCI Continental teams? How will this also affect her recently launched commitment to the Khaltsha Cycles women’s initiative in South Africa whom she brought to the TDF Femmes in 2025? Maybe graduates of the Khaltsha Academy will be considered for the new Women’s team etc?
October 2025
25 October: Transfer season is hotting up and we have seen a few nice deals get confirmed for African women so far, with South African duo S’annara Grove and Tiffany Keep both confirmed to Women’s Continental Teams for 2026. Check out all the latest on our 2026 Contracts Live Tracker.
5 October: The five-stage Women’s Tour of Burundi started today, with seven teams participating. National teams from Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and Uganda hit the start-line, with a mixed team from Uganda and Senegal.
We are happy to share that 2025 Benin national road champion Charlotte Metoevi took the stage win and the first yellow jersey, in a sprint finish with Burkina Faso’s Lamoussa Zoungrana and Charlotte’s team mate Hermionne Ahouissou coming in third. Thanks to ProCyclingStats for featuring this women’s race, even though it is not a UCI event. Full results and information on PCS here. Keep an eye on the Burkina Faso ladies, they are also here to win!
Sadly Miria Nantume (Uganda & Masaka Cycling Club) – one of the rising stars of East African women’s cycling – suffered a serious accident and has badly damaged her wrist. She was a DNF so will not take to the start-line of stage two today. We hope she recovers quickly, and might be able to race the GP International de Gitega in Burundi on Saturday.
4 October: She is at it again! Mighty Kim Le Court (AG Soudal Insurance Team) powers to victory in the 12th edition of the Giro dell’Emilia Internazionale Donne Elite in Italy, a UCI 1.Pro one day race. The race took place from Mirandola to San Luca and covered 126.7km, with 1006 vertical meters of ascent, with Kim winning the race solo by 24 seconds, taking 200 more UCI points for her impressive 2025 tally. Evergreen Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio came in a great 10th spot of the 95 finishers, at +1:21.
Looking at other results this weekend, those 200 points should keep Kim in the UCI Elite Women’s Top Ten when the UCI rankings are next updated on Tuesday, 7 October.
As mentioned below, we saw a brilliant performance from Ethiopia’s Tsige Kahsay Kiros (Mesfin Cycling Team, Ethiopia) at the World Champs (and Tour de l’Avenir Femmes) and expect a 2026 pro contract announcement soon for her. There are at least five teams vying for her signature at the moment.
In addition, we hope to see some news around Georgette Vignonfodo (Benin Cycling Federation), Miria Namtume (Masaka Cycling Club / Uganda) and Jazilla Mwamikazi (Ndabagawa Cycling Team / Rwanda) who are all working hard to try and secure development team spots in 2026. We hope these riders get contracts with the UCI’s WCC Women’s Continental Team, and will share any news as it happens.
1 October: WOW! What a World Championships: Kigali in Rwanda truly delivered a spectacular event indeed. We published a full round-up of the event on our final post on our #RoadToTheWorlds newswire which you can read HERE.
September 2025
19 September: Team Africa Rising In The News: Kimberly (our CEO) is featured in a new piece by BBC Sport (UK) today which previews the World Championships, and the main African contenders.
She is joined in the piece by Kim Le Court (Mauritius), Biniam Girmay (Eritrea) and David Lappartient (President, UCI) to talk about the event. You can read the full piece on the BBC Sport website here.
18 September: Preparation for the World Champs is in full swing, riders from across Africa and the world are now on the ground in Kigali getting ready for the event. Please find below the full entry lists (subject to change and confirmation) for the women’s races:
Women Elite Road Race: Hermionne Ahouissou & Yetonde Kpovihouede (Benin); Lobopo Kono (Botswana); Najma Najma (Comoros); Brhan Abrha, Haftu Reda & Serkalem Watango (Ethiopia); Dodo Humberto Ie (Guinea-Bissau); Mamadama Bangoura (Guinea); Nancy Debe, Monica Kiplagat & Kendra Tabu (Kenya); Lucie Lagesse, Aurelie Halbwachs & Kim Le Court (Mauritius); S’annara Grove, Maddie Le Roux & Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (South Africa); Diane Ingabire, Violette Irakoze Neza, Xaveline Nirere & Valentine Nzayisenga (Rwanda); Anta Ndiaye (Senegal); Jamila Abdullah (Tanzania); and Namukasa Trinitah (Uganda).
Women Elite ITT: Hermionne Ahouissou (Benin); Lobopo Kono (Botswana); Najma Najma (Comoros); Brhan Abrha & Serkalem Watango (Ethiopia); Mamadama Bangoura (Guinea); Monica Kiplagat & Kendra Tabu (Kenya); Lucie Lagesse & Aurelie Halbwachs (Mauritius); Diane Ingabire & Xaveline Nirere (Rwanda); Jamila Abdullah (Tanzania); and Namukasa Trinitah (Uganda).
Women U23 Road Race: Carla de Araoujo (Angola); Vanette Houssou & Charlotte Metoevi (Benin); Dahimata Yabre (Cote d’Ivoire); Theresa Diamelia Obiloma Bijana (Cameroon); Mentalla Belal & Alalla Ahmed Benballa Darwish (Egypt); Monaliza Araya (Eritrea); Merhawit Asgodom, Kidsti Gebrekidan, Mebrhit Girmay, Abrehet Teka & Tsige Yigezu (Ethiopia); Grace Kaviro & Margret Mutuku (Kenya); Monique du Plessis (Namibia); Sonica Klopper (South Africa); Charlotte Iragena, Jazilla Mwamikazi, Martha Ntakirutimana & Claudette Nyirarukundo (Rwanda); Isatu Bangura (Sierra Leone); Mandiswa Fakudze (Eswatini); Asnath Jason (Tanzania); Abra Nomessi (Togo); Alma Abroud (Tunisia); and Mary Aleper, Nantume Miria & Florence Nakagwa (Uganda).
Women U23 ITT: Vanette Houssou & Charlotte Metoevi (Benin); Dahimata Yabre (Cote d’Ivoire); Theresa Diamelia Obiloma Bijana (Cameroon); Mentalla Belal & Alalla Ahmed Benballa Darwish (Egypt); Merhawit Asgodom & Abrehet Teka (Ethiopia); Monique du Plessis (Namibia); Sonica Klopper (South Africa); Jazilla Mwamikazi & Claudette Nyirarukundo (Rwanda); Isatu Bangura (Sierra Leone); Mandiswa Fakudze (Eswatini); Asnath Jason (Tanzania); Abra Nomessi (Togo); Alma Abroud (Tunisia); and Mary Aleper & Nantume Miria (Uganda).
Women Junior Road Race: Odette Nsengiyuma (Burundi); Melvina Tankpinou (Benin); Kssanet Gebreslasse, Rahel Gimbato, Tsige Kiros & Danayt Zerihun (Ethiopia); Mercy Eragae (Kenya); Pontso Makatile (Lesotho); Delsia Janse Van Vuuren & Rosemarie Thiel (Namibia); Osaretin Grace Godwin & Divine Ogbe (Nigeria); Megan Botha & Errin Mackridge (South Africa); Liliane Uwiringiyimana & Yvonne Masengesho (Rwanda); and Gbassay Manasray (Sierra Leone).
Women Junior ITT: Odette Nsengiyuma (Burundi); Rahel Gimbato & Tsige Kiros (Ethiopia); Delsia Janse Van Vuuren & Rosemarie Thiel (Namibia); Osaretin Grace Godwin & Divine Ogbe (Nigeria); Megan Botha & Errin Mackridge (South Africa); Liliane Uwiringiyimana & Yvonne Masengesho (Rwanda); and Gbassay Manasray (Sierra Leone).
Team Trial Mixed Relay: Benin, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Rwanda, Uganda & World Cycling Centre.
14 September: African women racing across Europe this weekend, some with World Championships in mind, some who are not going, but all seeking to finish the season on a high and secure a contract for 2026. Lets go through all the results from this weekend:
- In France yesterday, it was the ‘A Travers les Hauts de France’, a127.7km UCI 1.1 one day race from Péronne to Arleux-en-Gohelle. South Africa’s S’annara Grove (CJ O’Shea Racing) came in #69 of the 130 starters, with only 94 finishing. Today, it was the UCI 1.Pro rated La Choralis Fourmies Féminine, a 123.1km race with 133 starters. This race featured riders from 26 different nations! S’annara came in #94 of 113 eventual finishers in this race. In her group – at the same time – was Ethiopian-born Eyeru Tesfoam Gebru (Team Buffaz Gestion de Patrimoine) who now races under the refugee flag.
- In Germany, another UCI 1.Pro race took place today, the Women’s Cycling Grand Prix Stuttgart & Region, a 124.2km blast from Filderstadt to Stuttgart. Africa represented here too, with 24yo Tiffany Keep (DAS – Hutchinson) flying the flag for South Africa. She came in #67 of the 72 eventual finishers, with 38 riders not completing the race.
- South Africa’s Maddie Le Roux completed Stage Six of the 23rd edition of the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche, and came in #62 in the overall GC, from the original start-list of 100 riders. Rwanda’s Diane Ingabire was sadly a DNF on stage 5, after struggling with the pace of this UCI 2.1 race, finishing in the bottom ten riders on stages 3 and 4. This was her 11th DNF of the year.
You can find all these results on our dedicated, ProCyclingStats-powered African Rider Results Service on our website, and of course you can see rider profiles and so much more on the PCS website as well.
11 September: Amazing scenes in Algeria, with the Algeria Cycling Federation really committed to supporting and growing women’s cycling there. The female national teams (U23 and elite) have begun a training camp in preparation for the upcoming international competitions in Zaralda, which will last until September 20. You can follow their exploits on the Algerian Cycling Federation’s Facebook page.
On the racing side, after stage two of the 23rd Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche was canceleed due to protests in France, stage 3 took place today. It was a 119km ride from Avignon to Pernes-les-Fontaines, with 1,146 vertical meters of climbing. Maddie Le Roux (South Africa) was best African, coming in at +10:09, to take her to #76 in the 96-rider GC.
Rwanda’s Diane Ingabire struggled with the stage, coming in +15:52 down and now sits in 90th spot on the GC with three stages to go, including tomorrow’s ITT. Full results on ProCyclingStats as always.
5 September: The CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation team – long term supporters of African women’s cycling – have announced a six-rider squad to take on a historic event on the UCI women’s calendar – the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche, which takes place next week (September 9-14). South Africa’s Maddie le Roux and Rwanda’s Diane Ingabire are part of the squad which will head to the stunning, unspoilt Ardèche region for six challenging stages.
It has been a difficult season for Maddie in particular, with a torrent of small setbacks preventing her from ever gaining momentum between races. A crash at the Volta Ciclista a Osona in June proved particularly harsh yet after that bitter disappointment, she has been able to look ahead with an optimistic mindset. She knows exactly what she wants to accomplish in Ardèche:
“If I can come out of this race knowing that I fought my absolute hardest and rode to the fullest of my potential, then I will feel satisfied. Too many races I’ve felt like I could’ve done more, so this week I want to finish knowing that there was no more to give, whatever my role for the team might be. Acing the peloton positioning, climbing like I know I’m capable of, and being the rider my team can count on – that is the plan.”
With the World Championships just three weeks away and both these riders guaranteed to race the Women’s Elite Road Race, its a vital time for them both to show they are in the best shape possible to represent their respective countries on 27 September.
4 September: After her incredible performance at Tour de l’Avenir (see our full report on 29 August below), we caught up with 18yo rising star Tsige Kahsay (Ethiopia) on how it all went:
“The Tour de l’Avenir was my first big race in Europe, and it was exciting to be there with the UCI World Cycling Centre Team. I really enjoyed being able to race against great teams and see where my level is at this point in my career.”
Tsige lined up against 96 of many of the world’s up and coming female cyclists. The Tour de l’Avenir is known to be a window into future talent, so many team managers pay real attention to it, with the 2026 contracts process getting moving in September. Some big talent like Paula Biasi (Spain), Scarlett Souren / Nienke Vinke (Netherlands) and Marion Bunel (France) were all there, so Tsige was racing top talent. We asked Tsige how all this made her feel:
“I am confident in my abilities as I have won many times in my home town and races across Ethiopia, but it was my first race with so many strong and competitive women. The racing was very hard indeed, but I was very happy to be in the right place on each stage. My power was good and I am so happy to be in the top 20 several times against these ladies. I thank the WCC for giving me this opportunity, and I hope this will result in a contract for 2026 and beyond as I truly wish to show the world what I can do on a bike.”
We spoke with Mr Tesema Gidey – CEO of Mesfin Cycling Team (Ethiopia) – from whom Tsige has been racing for several years about how he felt seeing her perform so well in Europe. He told us he was incredibly happy with her performance, highlighting her brilliant effort on the third stage, attacking the race and winning the ‘Most Combative’ award. He expects her to now do well at the World Championships now she knows she belongs at this level.
Talking of the Worlds, on 27 September, Tsige will be on the start line of the Women’s Junior Road Race at the UCI World Championships in Kigali (Rwanda):
“I am really looking forward to the first World Championships in Africa, it is a truly great moment for our continent and all African riders. For me, I will race the Junior race and I think my level is good. It would be a real dream for me to finish well, maybe I aim for a top ten. Let us see!”
You can follow Tsige’s journey on her Instagram HERE and check out her ProCyclingStats resume HERE.
1 September: As mentioned previously, we have been working hard on preparing the Benin National Women’s Team for their forthcoming debut at the first Maryland Cycling Classic Women’s Pro Race on 6 September. They have been undergoing an intense altitude camp in Wyoming (USA) and are fitter, leaner and more aware of nutrition and pro skills than ever before. Their attitude and determination is inspiring.
The media attention around their presence – the first time an African women’s team has ever raced in the USA – is also beginning to gain real pace. The Baltimore Times published a piece entitled “Pedaling Equality: How Benin’s Women Are Changing the Face of African Cycling” online for its readers.
In addition, there will be a historic celebration honoring the Benin Women’s National Cycling Team – and coach Adrien Niyonshuti’s presence at the race, with a VIP reception at 18:00 on 3 September at the Creatively Black Baltimore venue. There will be many artistic elements to this, a screening of the iconic Rising From Ashes movie, and more. To register to attend, all details on the event’s Eventbrite page.
You can also read an in-depth behind the scenes account of all the preparations on our CEO’s – Kimberly Coats – blog post “See What I See”.
These women’s presence at this race is a key moment in their career, with many top teams racing this race. With the 2026 contract market hotting up, it is a unique moment for these women to show what they could be capable of, in a professional team environment. The Maryland Cycling Classic announced the full start-list this week, and you can see this on ProCyclingStats.
August 2025
30 August: It was the 24th edition of the Classic Lorient Agglomération in France today, a 165km Women’s 1.WWT classified one-day road race in Plouay. For Africa, we had Kim Le Court (Mauritius) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (South Africa) racing together for their AG Soudal Insurance Team. Ashleigh had a strong race, and came in 13th overall. Kudos Ash! 85 of the 128 original starters finished, and sadly Kim was a DNF with sickness. Full results on ProCyclingStats as always!
29 August: The Tour de l’Avenir Femmes finished today and what a race it has been for Africa. As covered back in March (see below), we have been tracking the emergence of a true rising star in East Africa: Tsige Kahsay (Ethiopia), just 18 years old, has been making waves this year. She completely dominated the domestic Tour of Tigray, and this got her a spot on the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC)’s #Africa2025 training programme (aimed at helping developing nations get ready for the World Championships).
Due to her recent performances for the WCC squad at training camps and races in France, she was selected for their six-woman team for the hugely prestigious Tour de l’Avenir Femmes (24-29 August).
The start-list of this race, both men’s and women’s editions, is considered to be the cream of the cream of U23 rising cycling talent. At just 18yrs and 135 days, Tsige (see ProCyclingStats data below) was the youngest rider by almost a third of a year, and two years and over 200 days younger than median age!
This race was going to be a real test of her acumen, skills and experience, over six stages and a prologue. This was also her first true UCI race outside of Africa. We knew she has skills but it is a real unknown on how this would translate to a truly pro peloton. Ethiopia is also ranked #42 in the world Women U23 rankings so they are truly an unknown to the pro peloton.
And just wow…
After an impressive #38 position in the 3km Prologue, the 129.8km first stage was a real test, Tsige finished in an incredible 25th position, in a front group of 50 riders. Our inbox and social media start to warm up: “Who is Tsige Kahsay??” And then Stage Two, a 136.7km stage with 1800m of climbing, and Tsige comes in #20, moving to 35 in the GC – the top third! We have an inbound at this point from a DS of a Women’s World Tour team to ask about her…
And then, if things couldn’t get any more of a dream, there was Stage Three… This was a 80.8km punchy stage, with only 961 vertical meters, and Tsige launched! She is in the break, attacking hard, they don’t make it but she only finishes 17s down, but climbs to 21st! Incredible. The WCC Team DS (Alexandra Greenfield) then gets the call to get Tsige to the podium, she has been named the ‘Most Combative Rider’ for the stage, a true honour in the cycling world. And as the youngest rider in the race too!
Tsige follows this up with a #23 on the 76km Stage Four, bouncing her a further three spots into #19 in the overall GC, just incredible. Stage Five is a split stage, with a 41.6km section, followed by a 10.3km ITT (not a key strength for the diminutive Kahsay), and yet she rides incredibly well with a #28 and #27 respectively, bringing her in at #21 in the overall GC, with 59 of the original 96 riders finishing the race.
We should also mention the promising performances of her team-mate Jazilla Mwamikazi (Rwanda) on the WCC team at the race. Jazilla performed well across the stages, witha #35 in Stage 5a being her best, and finishing #45 in the overall GC at the end. Jazilla is only 20, and reigning Rwandan Women’s Elite Road Race, & U23 ITT National Champion, so expect to see her on the start-line for the U23 races at the World Championships for sure. We hear rumours of a Continental Team contract for 2026….
Back to Tsige, many people are now talking about her in regards the U23 Women’s Road Race making its debut at the World Champs with over 3,500m of climbing – her forte – has Kahsay ridden herself into the frame for the top performers at that race on Thursday 25 September in Kigali? We hope she has, and the increase of 1,336 views of her ProCyclingStats bio will definitely include Sports Directors or many teams!
21 August: The qualification period for the 2025 UCI Cycling World Championships closed on 19 August, and bar some places being allocated where qualifying nations don’t take their full quota, the numbers are set. We have a full review on this on our post today on out ‘Road To The Worlds’ newsfeed, but from the women’s POV, these are the key highlights:
- Elite Women: Mauritius (5 riders); South Africa (4 riders, inc. Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, as Africa Elite Continental Champion) Rwanda (4 riders – as hosts); Eritrea, Ethiopia, Algeria and all others (3 riders).
- U23 Women: All nations can send up to 5 riders as this is a new event at the Worlds.
- Junior Women: No African nations qualified for the maximum quota so any nation can send four riders. Eritrea can send Nardos Tsegay (African Junior Continental Champion) as a fifth rider.
- Individual Time Trial (ITT): All African nations can enter up to two riders. These nations can add these named individuals (as African Continental ITT Champions) as third riders in the relevant categories: South Africa: Lucy Young (Women Elite); Eritrea: Suzana Fiseha (Women U23) & Betiel EFREM (Women Junior).
17 August: South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman Pasio was back in action this week, at the 3-stage Tour de Romandie Féminin, the fourth edition of the race. She was the sole African rider on a start-list of 93 women, with Ashleigh picking up another top 20 GC finish in this UCI 2.WWT race across Switzerland. You can see Ashleigh’s performance – and all stage results – on ProCyclingStats – as always! #WhereElse
7 August: The UCI Individual Women’s Elite rankings have been updated post-Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and Kim Le Court Pienaar has jumped six places to #12 overall, her highest ranking, and we think the highest ranking of any African women overall. To put this in context, the overall winner of the TDFF, Pauline Ferrand Prevot, moved up to #13 overall. Truly puts Kim’s efforts in 2025 in perspective! You can see Kim’s palmares on her ProCyclingStats profile.
3 August: Today was a good day for African women’s cycling, with the 4-stage Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Women Tour concluding in Namibia today. This race is one of the rare women’s races on the Africa continent and should be celebrated as such. The overall GC was won by 23-year-old Xaverine Nirere (Rwanda / Amani) who won the race by almost ten minutes, with the next 25 riders between 10 – 25 minutes back.
There were 46 riders across a mix of National, Club/Amateur team who started the race. The race lost three Cameroon riders OTL at the end of Stage Two, and 37 riders made it to the end. Sadly an inexperienced rider caused a major crash on Stage Three and safety concerns were raised by the Mauritius team. The race has been granted a ‘UCI.WE.2.Stage’ category and it is important that organisers make sure the level of the peloton is appropriate, with licenses and rider insurance all in place if there are amateur riders alongside semi-professional and professional riders. This is vital to encourage better teams and the best African female riders to attend future editions.
2 August: JUST WOW! What a few days it has been. We have seen history made – Kim Le Court (Mauritius) has worn the prestigious ‘maillot jaune’ (yellow jersey) for three days at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. This is the first time any African rider (female of male) has done so, beating Daryl Impey’s two days in yellow back in July 2013.
Kim is having a profound effect on African cycling – matching the efforts of Biniam Girmay on the men’s side – and the continent now has a male and female rider right at the top of their respective sides of the sport. Simply incredible, huge kudos to Kim, who also worked so hard for her team-mate today, sadly losing the yellow jersey in the process on a unrelenting mountain stage from Chambery to the Col de la Madeleine.
We spoke with the team behind the SBS Sport podcast about the profound effect of Kim’s success (to date) will have on up and coming young African female – and male – riders. You can also see our exclusive interview with Kim at the end of Stage Seven on our Tiktok.
Kim has truly put down a marker to say she is now a true World Tour star rider, and surely one of the short-list of favourites for the Elite Women’s Road Race on ‘home soil’ at the World Champs in 50 days…
You can also read the recent in-depth BBC Sport / BBC Africa piece we put together with Kim HERE.
July 2025
29 July: What a morning, seeing Kim Le Court in her yellow jersey, on a beautiful yellow Specialized bike. We expected a breakaway but did not think it would be left to get to the end, and it was duly caught. Then a big crash of almost two dozen riders split the race at 3.6km, with Kim stuck behind the crash, with many other big names like Demi Vollering and Chloe Dygert.
The 5km rule was in place so Kim lost no time in the overall results, but with Marianne Vos taking second in the sprint and gaining 6 bonus seconds, this was enough to bump Kim to second place in the GC. As always, our friends at ProCyclingStats have the full results online.
Stage four tomorrow, is a flat 130.7km stage, with just 780m of climbing so we anticipate AG Insurance – Soudal team keeping Kim safe and ensuring no major breakaways get away. Lets see what happens…
28 July: Advertising pioneer Fred Bernard once said: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” He was right:
HISTORY. MADE. Kim Le Court is the first African woman to ever wear a TDF yellow jersey, and only the second African ever to wear it (with Daryl Impey winning it on 4 July 2013 and wearing it for two stages).
26 July: Today was a rather special day for six young female Africa riders – part of the UCI’s World Cycling Centre #Africa2025 programme – who were presented at Stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on Saturday as special guests, giving them the opportunity to meet some of their racing idols and enjoy the Grand Depart in Brittany. These talented Under 19 and Under 23 riders are based nearby in Brittany and gaining experience in European races, ahead of competing in the Worlds this September.
The six riders are Georgette Vignonfodo (U19 – Benin), Tsige Kiros Kahsay (U19 – Ethiopia), Alaliaa Darwish (U23 – Egypt), Miria Nantume (U23 – Uganda), Vanette Houssou (U23 – Benin) and Djazilla Umwamikazi (U23 – Rwanda). Georgette and Tsige commented on the impact of Kim Le Court’s recent successes in the BBC piece mentioned below.
24 July: BBC Africa featured the presence of Kim Le Court at the upcoming Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Written by Team Africa Rising’s, Jeremy Ford, it was a unique insight into the hope, challenges, and importance to African women’s cycling to see the explosive results of Kim Le Court, from Mauritius, this season. It wasn’t always easy for Kim and it took her two attempts to secure her place in the World Tour peloton.
“It didn’t work out for me in 2015, 2016, but he (Ian) always knew that I’ve always wanted to belong there. And of course, the growth of woman’s cycling since I was there [until] now has been huge.”
“She secured a contract with the AG Insurance–Soudal team for 2024 but, after overcoming a wrist injury, top-level success has only really arrived in the past twelve months.”
Most importantly, it’s how young up and coming African cyclists view Kim’s success with Georgette from Benin who’s currently with the UCI WCC Project 2025 program in France said, “For me, Kim le Court is a true hope for Africa. She embodies courage, perseverance and pure talent. She represents an example to follow, a source of inspiration for all those who dream big despite obstacles.”
Read the entire piece HERE.
23 July: Its a sad day for Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, and for African women’s cycling. She has not been selected for the AG Insurance – Soudal team for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (TDFF). The full start-list for the race is now on ProCyclingStats.
Having missed the 2024 edition through injury, she has worked incredibly hard to try and get back into contention for the TDFF, but sadly the 39-year-old Moolman-Pasio did not make the final squad of eight riders. Ashleigh posted a heart-breaking announcement on her Instagram:
“Last year I missed the TdFF due to injury, and it’s taken an immense amount of grit and work to come back. While I’m finally in a good place physically, this decision still stings deeply. I didn’t expect to be the headline. I simply hoped to contribute — to support, to guide, to lead from experience. That’s what makes this a tough one to swallow.” You can read the whole post here.
In better news, of the 26 nations represented, Kim Le Court of Mauritius has been selected for the AG Insurance – Soudal team, and will represent her continent at the race, as, like Biniam Girmay in the men’s race, she will be the sole African present at the world’s biggest cycling races.
Though this may not seem like a huge number, it is important to remember that there are over 140 African men and women racing in the top three levels of cycling in 2025 – a record number – and we expect a good number to be across the other Grand Tours, and many other premium races over the rest of 2025, and into 2026. You can see more details on this on our pro contract tracker.
This momentum for African cycling has been growing for nearly a decade now, and we expect more to come.
June 2025
29 June: We have updated our ‘Road To the World Champs’ Live Blog, with all the new National Champions from competitions across Africa this year!
Congrats to all the new female National Road Race and ITT champions this weekend from Eritrea, Algeria, Ethiopia, Morocco, Eswatini, Rwanda, Uganda and Cameroon! Results from Cape Verde, Angola and Cote d’Ivoire are still TBC. You can see the full list on the Live Blog for more info!
23 June: Eritrea’s rising star, Kisanet Weldemichael, who has recently joined the UCI World Cycling Centre #Africa2025 programme as a trainee, just secured a spectacular first place win in France!
22 June: This weekend sees a lot of National Championships action across the world, and includes five African nations – Benin, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Mauritius and Tunisia (see 21 June update on our ‘Road to the Worlds Newsfeed for more information) with more next week. Some early women’s road race results:
Benin: Women: Charlotte Metoevi (Charlotte is U23 but won the combined race) / Junior Women: Georgette Vignonfodo (Georgette just returned from the World Cycling Centre #Africa2025 program)
Burkina Faso: Elite Women: Awa Bamago
Mauritius: Elite Women: Kim Le Court (ITT & Road)
19 June: The 19 June is known as Juneteenth in the USA, a national holiday on the day in 1865 when the last enslaved African Americans in the United States were finally informed of their freedom – two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln. To mark this, we were so excited to announce today that we have partnered with the State of Maryland & the City of Baltimore to arrange for the Benin National Women’s Team to race in The Maryland Classic in September, the debut of the women’s race at this prestigious US event!
This will be a huge moment for these West African women – known as Les Amazones – in their preparations for the UCI Cycling World Championships! It is also the first time an African women’s UCI team has raced in the USA – history is being made. You can read all about it in the press release, and it has starting hitting the cycling media also, with our friends at CyclingNews writing about it already!
17 June: BREAKING NEWS! Our friends at The Cyclists’ Alliance (“TCA”) have teamed up with MAAP to launch the Radical Women of Cycling initiative, to empower female riders and support them at every stage of their careers, advocating for fairness, equal opportunities, and a more sustainable future in the sport. From June 12–July 13, folk can join women-led rides, inspiring talks and strength sessions all around the world.
TCA President Grace Brown will be leading events in Australia and there are events around the world listed on the dedicated pages for North America, AsiaPac and EU/UK/Africa. These are all female-led, community-driven, and taking place in safe, welcoming spaces.
Team Africa Rising has got involved with this project to get Africa on the MA(A)P too and, partnering with our long-term friends at the Masaka Cycling Club Foundation, there will now be a DEBUT African event on the Radical Women of Cycling calendar, taking place in Uganda on 12 July.
The Radical Women of Cycling event in Uganda, the first of its kind on African soil, will be a 50km social ride led by 17-year-old Mirembe Immaculate, a rising star in Ugandan cycling and a young mother who’s using sport to transform her future.
This ride will roll from Masaka Cycling Club to the Bukakata Fishing Village on Lake Victoria, celebrating women in sport across East Africa. Immaculate is part of the Masaka Cycling Club’s Development Scholarship Program and will be racing her first Junior National Championships in June.
All details here if you can join this unique ride in Uganda on 12 July.
16 June: Our CEO (Kimberly Coats) is on the ground in Benin at the moment, renewing and refreshing some of their equipment, working out training strategy for the next 6 months with head coach Adrien Niyonshuti (which includes Benin National Champs, Africa Conti Champs in August, World Champs in September + one HUGE secret race on which we will share more information soon…) and working with the Cycling Federation to ensure everything there is on track.
It is a 24/7 environment and she is working hard in the heat to get all this working smoothly. She is also working with the US embassy there on our relationship with them, to ensure future travel in and out of the USA for the Benin riders is organised and possible.
Alongside all this, she also found the time to organise a ZWIFT DAY! A bunch of our female and male riders took on challenges, races and sprint training on their Wahoo KICKR smart trainers, and HEADWIND fans – it is 90 degrees Fahrenheit – 30 degrees Celsius right now – with cash prizes for the sprint winners!
You can see footage of several of these races on our Instagram account- the racing was tough and competitive, and was great to see winners from Junior to Elite levels – the future is bright!
Kim also came across her 2003 Cannondale road bike at the team house, showing how everything is re-used, re-cycled at all times. Great to see this machine still going strong!
15 June: Final results from stage three of the Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées, Kisanet finished strongly coming in #73 on the stage for her WCC Team, jumping 14 places in the GC to a final place of #83 of 112 original starters. Sadly Maude Le Roux was a DNF on stage three. Full results and race statistics on ProCyclingStats as always.
14 June: Couple of tough days at the fourth Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées– a UCI 2.1 classified women’s race – for Maude Le Roux (South Africa) on the CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation team, and Kisanet Weldemichael (Eritrea) on the UCI World Cycling Centre Team, with them sitting #94 and #97 respectively on GC after the second of three stages. Really good experience of these two African women though, racing with some great talent from across Europe and the world.
With the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift less than two months away, we saw the the team behind the IRIS cycling brand, who put together an awesome women’s cycling celebration (“The Cheer Squad”) at the race in 2024, are back for 2025, and going even bigger than last year! They have announced that their big party will be on the Col du Granier (Chambéry) on Stage Seven of this year’s race, which takes place on 1 August.
You can read more about the Cheer Squad and plans for 2025 on their website, and do try and join them if you are in France that day.
12 June: We wanted to share an awesome video produced by our friends at the Masaka Cycling Foundation (“Masaka”). Masaka has been operating in Uganda for several years now, and have produced some great male and female talent, with riders like Florence Nakagwa now racing on the CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation team in 2025 and more in the pipeline!
We have worked with Masaka for many years, and they were one of the early adopters of using Zwift & Wahoo – especially for their women – , and now have a highly sophisticated e-training / racing programme in place. Check out their recent update on their women’s programme here:
10 June: We wanted to share a great piece of writing from the awesome Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio today. Ever the professional, she was virtually training on Zwift whilst watching the 2025 Lloyds Women’s Tour of Britain, and musing on women’s cycling. She talked about how important this individual race has been in the evolution of the women’s side of our sport. Ashleigh has kindly agreed that we can reproduce some of her article today to share her thoughts with our audience:
“For much of my early career, women’s racing felt like a well-kept secret. We poured our hearts into races that barely made it onto the radar – no live TV, only the occasional highlights package uploaded hours later, if at all. Following the sport meant refreshing Twitter feeds or trawling obscure websites. It often felt like the only people who truly followed women’s cycling were those with a direct connection to a female rider.
We often felt like we were on our own – doing it for the love of the sport, yes, but without the infrastructure to support a real professional career path.
The Women’s Tour of Britain changed that: It was one of the first races to take women’s cycling seriously – not just as sport, but as a product worth building, marketing, and sharing with the world. The same organisation that ran the Men’s Tour of Britain brought the same level of professionalism to the women’s race. And it showed.
Personally, finishing second overall in the 2016 edition of the Women’s Tour remains one of the proudest moments of my career. It was a turning point that gave me the confidence to keep pushing – to believe that this dream could become a sustainable, professional reality.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everything. But in a strange and unexpected way, it also acted as a springboard for women’s cycling. With traditional racing halted, Zwift became the epicentre of the sport. And when ASO approached Zwift to host a virtual Tour de France in 2020, Zwift only agreed on the condition that the women’s event be treated with complete parity — equal stages, equal coverage, equal opportunity. It was the first time the women’s peloton raced under the Tour de France name.
But during that virtual Tour de France, broadcast around the world, people watched. People cared. The popularity and engagement proved what we had always known – that women’s cycling had a real audience, a real business case, and a bright future. That moment opened the door to the rebirth of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and it changed the trajectory of the sport.
Still, none of that progress would have been possible without the early pioneers. The Women’s Tour of Britain was a trailblazer – a race that led by example and showed what women’s cycling could become with the right support and belief behind it.
And here’s to the riders – past and present – who fought for this sport when few were watching. We ride on your shoulders. And we ride with purpose, with pride, and with deep, deep gratitude.”
You can read the whole piece on Ashleigh’s Squarespace page.
8 June: Another brilliant ride by 31yo South African S’annara Grove (CJ O’Shea Racing) at the Lloyds Tour of Britain today, finishing in the bunch in 39th place on the final stage four, and maintaining her top 50 slot in the overall GC (#44), just one place behind the incredible Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek. S’annara was also the top finisher for her team!
Her countrywomen 24yo Tiffany Keep (DAS-Hutchinson) finished in 84th today, and taking #77 in the overall GC. Great work both ladies indeed!
Sad news from the Volta Ciclista Catalunya Femenina though, with Maude Le Roux (South Africa) reported as a DNF today. We hope she is ok.
7 June: More racing action for women from Africa today, with 28yo South African Maude Le Roux (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation) finishing in a brilliant #55 on stage two of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina in Spain. It looks a hard stage with 12 OTLs, and 4 DNFs! Kudos Maude!
6 June: WOW! More good news from the UK: What a day yesterday for African cycling, after her first Monument win at LBL, Kim Le Court takes her second stage win at a UCI 2.WWT classified stage race – the Tour of Britain – and her fifth victory for her AG Insurance – Soudal team! Huge congrats to Kim, making Mauritius’ debut at this race.
After the race, Kim shared: “I am very happy, not just with this victory, but also with being back here. We came into this stage with a plan and executed it perfectly.”
“I attacked at kilometer 44, had Kirsten come with me, and we managed to hold off the chasers, both of us being strong engines. It was pretty close at the finish, but I am delighted I could pull it off. I now look forward to the next stages, where we want to fight for some more good results.”
The current Women’s National Champion of Mauritius attacked on Lingburn’s Bank, a 5.6% climb over 2.3km, and was joined by another rider. They worked together and kept a time gap for most of the rest of the race. As the peloton closed quickly towards the end of the stage, Kim sprinted away from the other breakaway rider and took the win, just ten years and ten days shy of her debut at this race.
Sadly, as the race is a 2.WWT classified race, she only wins 50 UCI points for this effort. Good to have them in the bank though and she defends the yellow jersey from today so more to come we hope. Good luck Kim and her team! Results will be shared across our socials and our Results Service online as always.
4 June: Good news from the UK: 23yo Trhas Teklehaimanot Tesfay took the win in a London race series last night! ‘TT’, the 2023 Women’s Elite National Champ (Road & ITT) of Ethiopia is an asylum seeker in the UK, and still awaiting her decision. We have been following her story, and supporting her as much as we can. She has signed for the UCI World Cycling Centre Women’s Team for 2025, but the inability to travel is hampering her development hugely. Check out our dedicated blog for more info.
3 June: Today is World Bicycle Day! We are celebrating as you would expect! On the pro women’s cycling side, Kim Le Court leads the way in the latest UCI rankings (published today), sitting in #14 worldwide, and Africa’s leading woman. Her recent win at Liege-Bastogne-Liege still giving us all goosebumps!
Kim hasn’t raced since, and we are happy to see her named in the AG Insurance – Soudal Team’s squad for the Tour of Britain, starting this week on 5 June. We are very happy to see that the organisers have invited two UK continental teams who support African cyclists, so Kim will be joined by South African’s Tiffany Keep (DAS – Hutchinson) and S’annara Grove (CJ O’Shea Racing) who both raced this race in 2024. Three African women is the highest number of Africans in this race and we wish them all well! We will report on progress here, and on our socials.
At the development level, we are seeing some great performances by the young African women on the #Africa2025 project – run by the UCI’s World Cycling Centre – in preparation for the Cycling Worlds.
We have supported several of the women to get onto this programme with our friends at the UCI, and very impressed with their efforts, especially those of the two young Beninoise – Georgette Vignonfodo and Vanette Houssou. Reports from the WCC training team are very positive about their ability, attitude and ambition. Rwanda’s Djazilla Umwamikazi is also impressing them. Happy World Bicycle Day ladies!
1 June: The evergreen Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Africa #2 women) finished the 2-stage Women’s Tour of Norway today, riding as the captain of the team and finishing in a great 6th place after working hard for her team. She won 40 UCI points for herself. You can read her great review of her performance on her LinkedIn page.
May 2025
27 May: The UCI have updated their Rider Rankings and Africa’s #1 female rider Kim Le Court (Mauritius) has moved up to #14 in the world! Congrats Kim, incredible year for you! Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (South Africa) is going strong at #74 to mark the two African women in the world’s Top 100 riders. To see the full list of African women professionals, check out our online Tracker on our website.
24 May: Our regular Newsletter has been published and emailed to subscribers on our Mailing List. This issue goes deep into the amazing developments we are seeing in Benin, especially around women’s cycling! It features an interview with Georgette Vignonfodo and Cycling President Romuald Hazoume, and profile of our Good Dirt Ride fundraiser, check it out for more!
20 May: Three of the African ladies on the CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation team lined up today for the 24th “Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria” UCI 1.1 rated women’s one day race. It was a hard race, with only Maude Le Roux finishing in #68, and only 73 of the 125 starters finishing the race. Worringly, it was Rwandan Diane Ingabire’s seventh consecutive DNF. This is her third season as a professional rider on this team, and many questions will be being asked about the lack of development she has been able to manage. Ugandan Florence Nakagwa also logged her fourth DNF of the year, which is also worrying, but less so than with Diane, as its Florence’s first real year racing at this level.
17 May: “Every pedal stroke is one step closer to recognition, equality and inspiration to the younger generation.” We have helped the team at BBC Africa’s famous #FocusOnAfrica podcast with interviews with Georgette Vignonfodo (young Benin female talent) and Benin Cycling President Romuald Hazoume. Check out the interview on BBC World website, it starts at 27:10.
12 May: Our World Champs Live Blog has been updated with the just released qualification data for the Worlds in September. Have a look at the ’12 May’ update for all qualification info for the women. With all nations allowed to send up to five women for the new stand-alone U23 Women’s Race, expect to see some serious entrant numbers from across Africa! Check out the blog for more info.
5 May: Today we launched a new Live Blog to chart developments and progress towards the first UCI Cycling Road World Championships on African soil, due to take place in Rwanda in September 2025. Alongside the Elite and Junior categories for women, these World Champs will see the debut of a stand-alone U23 women’s road race. Check out the blog for more information.
4 May: Today marked a historic moment in African women’s cycling, specifically the launch of the first ever women’s Grand Prix du Cotonou in Benin! A strong field was in attendance for this circuit race, taking place around central Cotonou, under the watchful gaze of the bronze 30metre-high ‘Amazone’ statue celebrating Benin’s strong female culture.
Awa Bamago of neighbouring Burkina Faso took the win, with her countrywoman Zougrana Lamoussa in second in a strong breakaway 1-2 race win. Check out their celebrations on our TikTok channel! Young Benin talent Charlotte Metoevi sprinted to third in a mass sprint finish of the peloton. Full results of the race are on ProCyclingStats and we hope to see an even bigger race in 2026!
April 2025
30 April: We are celebrating 20yo Mary Aleper of Uganda (racing for the Black Mambas Cycling Team) who dominated the 2025 Tour du Lunsar women’s race in Sierra Leone. She won both stages and led the GC by a significant margin. We are proud to be the sponsor’s of the Women’s GC jersey (see below)
Mary has been on the African cycling scene since 2021 when she took 4th in the African Junior Conti Champs ITT and 6th in the Road Event. She was right there with Nesrine Houili (Algeria) who later went on to race professionally for Canyon/SRAM Wildlife Generation and is racing for Algerian Continental Team, Madar Pro Cycling in 2025.
27 April: WOW WOW WOW! WHAT A DAY! Mauritius’ Kim Le Court wins the women’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege! This is one of the biggest ‘Monument’ races in professional cycling, and she makes history as the FIRST AFRICAN to ever win a Monument.
“On the downhills I almost died five times!”Check out this awesome article by our friends at The Escape Collective on Kim and her win.
24 April: It was leaked today that the 2025 African Continental Championships will take place on 9-12 August in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo). This is a bit of a shock as its right in the middle of the race calendar so many of the c.150 African men and women professional riders will struggle to make time to get there and back and not disrupt their race season. With the World Champs qualification deadline on 19 August, this might be a strategy by CAC to help African nations qualify for more places, but we are not sure the points gained will have much of an effect in reality. More on this closer to the time…
23 April: Wow, a fantastic ride by Mauritius’ Kim Le Court today, taking 6th! Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio finished strongly in 21st position also.
20 April: Some gutsy performances by South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Mauritius’ Kim Le Court (both on the AG Insurance – Soudal team) at the Amstel Gold Race – Ladies Edition, with Ashleigh finishing in 11th and Kim in 31st. It is great to have Africa represented at this high level, and it cannot be long until we have an African winner of one of these huge races in the World Tour calendar.
We have updated our 2025 professional contracts and transfers tracker with a few recent changes. On the women’s side, there are still 20 female African riders racing professionally in 2025.
This is the highest number ever! Check out these awesome women on the tracker for more info.
March 2025
28 March: Over in the UK, Sunday saw asylum Trhas Teklehaimanot Tesfay’s second race of the year yesterday at the ANEXO/CAMS Women’s CiCLE Classic, and she turned out for a special British Cycling Central Region Team. Sadly she was a late DNF but got some invaluable experience, with her taking on her first ever gravel sections! Check out the live blog on her journey for more info.
24 March: Kimberly Coats, our CEO, was featured this week on the brilliant She Speaks Sport podcast on all things African cycling, with women’s cycling a big part of her thoughts. Check it out on the She Speaks Sport website for more.
21 March: The CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation Team women’s team get going today and we are most excited to track these ladies across 2025. The team has supported African female riders for several years, and boast no fewer than FIVE African riders (South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia) on their overall roster of nine riders in 2025. They can now claim to be the true owners of the name: “Africa’s Team”. Click link above to see their full squad. We have written an in-depth report on the team featuring quotes from the African riders. Go check it out!
15 March: We have updated our 2025 professional contracts and transfers tracker with a few recent changes. On the women’s side, there are still 20 female African riders racing professionally in 2025 – the highest number ever. Check out these awesome women on the tracker for more info.
11 March: The winter weather over the UK has finally broken. On Sunday, Trhas Teklehaimanot Tesfay took to the start-line of her first race of the year, and in the colours of the UCI’s World Cycling Centre Women’s Continental Team, her new pro team for 2025. An 80km race around the lanes of Surrey at the Surrey League/Kingston Wheelers Cat 2/3 Women’s Race. Trhas was there with her friends from the brilliant London Academy team. London Academy is a women’s domestic racing team based in London, with a focus on developing riders from regional to national level in the UK.
Trhas kept with the lead group the whole race, racking up 600m of ascent, taking the QOM for the 4km main climb on one of the laps, and sitting =5 in the all time rankings for the segment on Strava, at 5m32s, just 2 seconds off the fastest ever ascent! She finished in a strong bunch finish. She was just a second or so off the winner Lucie Eva de Marigny-Lagesse (The Phoenix Collective).
10 March: It has been quite a week for Team Africa Rising’s CEO Kimberly Coats around International Women’s Day 2025. She has been named as one of the key women in world cycling in TWO major media reports by Cycling News and Escape Collective. Even more impressive is her lack of ever wanting self publicity. So we know she will be equally embarrassed and humbled by this media attention!
9 March: As predicted five days ago, the 2025 Tour of Tigray was all about Tsige Kahsay. She took the race by storm (again!) and dominated start to finish for her team Mesfin Industrial Engineering. She is a real star of Ethiopia, and wider East Africa. With her mimicking her hero Tadaj Pogacar’s winner celebrations, we are going to see a lot more of her. Full results of the race on ProCyclingStats.
8 March: As International Women’s Day comes around, we are so happy to report that as of today, TWENTY, yes TWENTY African women have got professional or thereabouts deals for 2025! Sensational to see – you can see all this on our 2025 Contracts and Transfers Tracker.
4 March: The women’s Tour of Tigray (Ethiopia) begins today. All eyes are on the 18yo sensation Tsige Kahsay, who won the race last year at only 17yo! She really is one for the future. We will be tracking her progress on our social media accounts, and here, in 2025. We expect to see her as part of the UCI WCC #Africa2025 programme at some point. She is the real deal from all reports.
2 March: Trhas Teklehaimanot Tesfay’s training is going well. This week she has ridden over 400km in training, both on her Zwift Ride and her UCI Scott Addict bike IRL. This includes a gruelling 180km London-Brighton-London ride. One of the iconic ‘monument’ rites of passage in British cycling, we are told!
February 2025
14 February: As most of the world celebrates Valentine’s Day, we were hoping to celebrate a break-up! CAC, the governing body of African Cycling, has had the same President for around two decades. Things needed to change. Delegates from 54 African nations headed to Egypt for the 2025 Confédération Africaine de Cyclisme (“CAC”) congress this weekend. A vote for the Presidency was due. Incredibly, and contrary to UCI rules, the current President had submitted his candidacy. UPDATE: We got our wish: A new CAC President, Yao Allen Kouame (Ivory Coast) was elected President, by one vote.
9 February: A brilliant UAE Women’s Tour for Africa, with Mauritius’ Kim Le Court finishing on the podium in third position, a great start to the year for her! 2025 is promising to be a break out year for her. She is in great shape and determined to show what she can do. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio also showing well still. She is#19 place on overall GC, showing that the 39-yo still has a lot to offer this year. Will she target an African Champs win in August, and World Champs podium in September maybe?
8 February: This is what African women’s cycling is all about. Bringing together women from Rwanda, Benin, Uganda, Egypt to all train and race as part of the World Cycling Centre #Africa2025 programme. Pictured below are Georgette Vignonfodo and Vanette Houssou (Benin), with Djazilla Umwamikazi (Rwanda) in the centre.
Women’s cycling on the continent is growing faster than men’s. In 2009 there were only 4 African countries with women’s points. By 2024 there were 21!
January 2025
30 January: Regular followers of our content will know we have been working with the awesome team at Zwift (led by Kate Verroneau, head of women’s cycling). It has been a game changer for many of our programmes and riders. A great example of this for women’s cycling is in Benin. We have seen huge steps forward through the use of Zwift. Check this out on our YouTube channel below:
20 January: Kimberly Coats, our CEO, has been asked to be a professional mentor for women in the cycling industry by the brilliant #Uplift project, run by Shift Active Media. You can read more about this appointment on the Uplift instagram account. Congrats boss!
10 January: We recently launched a 2025 Contracts and Transfers Tracker with high hopes for women in 2025. Ten of the women we are tracking have now got contracts. We hope a good few more African women will ‘go pro’. Today we broke the news that South Africa’s Hayley Preen has secured a ride with Team Honeycomb 226ers. Though technically a UCI ‘Club’ team, they seem to have serious backing. We expect to see Hayley racing around the world in 2025. Check out Hayley and all these awesome women on the Tracker for more info.
5 January: Over in the UK, today is Trhas Teklehaimanot Tesfay’s birthday, she turned 23. We, and everyone involved in supporting her, are just in awe of the resilience of this young woman. All she has gone through. And all she is still going through whilst she continues to wait for a result on her UK asylum claim. Come on British Government! Help her get her life and cycling dreams back on track, literally….
December 2024
10 December: The brilliant young Ugandan talent Nantume Miria (Masaka Cycling Foundation) has been interviewed on her goals for 2025. This young woman is truly an inspiration for young women in Uganda, East African and beyond. Check out her interview below:
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