The Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift announce that they have renewed their support for South Africa’s Qhubeka Charity for 2025, another year for this long-running relationship.
Yann Le Moënner, the CEO of Amaury Sport Organisation (“ASO”), the organisers of both races said:
“The Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift are two iconic sporting events. Our responsibility goes far beyond the competition itself. We have a duty to promote cycling around the world and to raise awareness of the impact a simple bicycle can have in disadvantaged communities. We firmly believe that cycling should be encouraged and can serve as a tool for empowerment. Our long-term partnership with Qhubeka helps turn the bicycle into a pathway to the future, that is what drives us.”
Thanks to this collaboration with ASO, organiser of the world’s most iconic sporting events, nearly 2,500 bicycles have been distributed to schoolchildren across South Africa since 2018. This partnership is a key part of the Tour de France’s “Solidarity School – A Bike for Everyone!” campaign, which aims to train over 100,000 schoolchildren in cycling skills across France by 2025.
To complement this initiative on the international stage, ASO and the Tour de France has also committed significant funding to support Qhubeka’s “Scholar Mobility” program in Southern Africa, one of whose goals is to provide bicycles to teenagers, enabling them to get to school more quickly and thus access education more easily. Anthony Fitzhenry, the founder of Qhubeka in 2005, said:
“The announcement of the continuation of our partnership with the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is fantastic news for us. This collaboration allows us to keep changing the lives of hundreds of schoolchildren by giving them access to new bicycles. We continue to see remarkable improvements in school attendance and academic performance, which proves that bicycles really can change lives.”
Stage 13 of the 2025 Tour de France, on Friday 18 July, will be dedicated to supporting Qhubeka. Ex-World Tour professional cyclist Adrien Niyonshuti will ride the 10.9 km individual time trial from Loudenvielle to Peyragudes on Qhubeka’s iconic single-speed bicycle to promote the charity.
As well as several years racing for Doug Ryder’s Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka, and a two-time Olympian on MTB (London 2012) and Road (Rio 2016) Adrien previously represented Qhubeka during the 2022 Tour de France by riding up the legendary Alpe d’Huez on the single-speed Qhubeka bike!
With the UCI World Championships taking place in his home nation of Rwanda in September, Adrien, now the Head Coach for the Benin Cycling Federation, is a perfect choice for this challenge! He is very well known among the professional peloton and this year, he will take on a formidable climb, setting off before the professional riders, at 12.15 p.m. on the demanding ascent to Peyragudes. We here at Team Africa Rising work closely with Adrien all year round, and know he is good for a hard climb!
Don’t miss Stage 13 of the Tour de France on Friday, July 18, to celebrate this partnership. Donate today to support the Qhubeka Charity’s special Tour de France / Tour de France avec Femmes campaign!
Check out this awesome movie the Qhubeka Charity made recently to celebrate this partnership:
#BicyclesChangeLives #TDF2025 #TDFF2025 #AfricaRising
