As we head towards the end of October and the 2025 UCI professional road cycling season has officially closed. Any points won at UCI races moving forward will be counted towards the 2026 season. We thought a good time to talk about the 2025 season, but also the hastily scheduled African Road Continental Championships (ARCC) which are still to come.
2025 African Continental Championships
The ARCC are organised by the Confederation of African Cycling (CAC), and their event delivery partner Golazo. The 2025 ARCC was announced (late) to take place in mid-August 2025, in Congo. These dates clashed with the long-scheduled UCI 2.2 Tour de Maurice (Tour of Mauritius), which the organisers of the latter then postponed, in deference to the ARCC.
The ARCC were then cancelled by CAC, last minute. Two months later, on 1 October, CAC announced the ARCC would take place on 19-23 November, in SE Kenya. The 2025 edition of the Tour de Maurice sadly disappeared. Rumours are that the 2026 edition will take place in June/July. The new dates of the ARCC are also deep in the off-season, a bad time in reality, and many of the names we will mention in our 2025 review have recently confirmed they will not attend the ARCC.
Costs and Points an Issue
Several African federations are also struggling with the cost of attending the ARCC, so close to having to have raised significant funds to attend the World Championships, hosted in Kigali (Rwanda), which saw riders from over 30 African nations take part. A full review of the World Champs, from an African point of view, can be found on as the last post on our live #RoadToTheWorlds news-wire.
It is also important to note that all points and jerseys earned at the 2025 ARCC will be voided if the 2026 ARCC is held before the end of the season (October 2026). This is sad state of affairs, as this will crush some riders’ dreams when they have to stop wearing that African Continental Champion jersey, and maybe not then qualify for the World Championships in Montreal.
“This lack of a consistent date on the calendar for the African Road Continental Championships is an ongoing problem. In the past, the ARCC was held in the spring, which is more beneficial for the athletes. However, CAC never consulted Cycling South Africa, leading to conflicts with South Africa’s National Road Championships. Africa has no races to lose, and the main fault lies with CAC for failing to establish a regular schedule. It’s unprofessional and harms the athletes and countries that need points. CAC needs to plan better to effectively develop African cycling,” said Team Africa Rising CEO, Kimberly Coats.
We will of course report on all the action at the ARCC in Kwale County, Kenya. You can see the full roadbook and routemaps for all ARCC events on the Golazo website.
UCI 2025 Rankings Review – Men
So, back to the UCI 2025 season: Lets start with the Men as the UCI published an official #AfricaTour ranking for the Men, we hope they will add this for women in 2026 (finally!)
There is no real surprise at the top of the Men’s rankings, with 25yo Biniam Girmay coming in first, dominating the rankings with almost the same tally of points as the second to fifth placed riders! Kudos Bini for another year at the top. His results in 2025 were probably not where he would ideally have liked them to be, finishing #37 in the world compared to his stellar #9 for the 2024 season. His future is also unclear with him being contracted to his current team to 2028 but rumours of a transfer have been rife for several months. we hope to see this settled soon so he can hit the new season training slots hard!
Eritrea take the 1-2-3 of the 2025 Men’s rankings (with two more riders also in the top ten) and are celebrated as the top cycling nation of the continent for sure. 25-year-old Henok Mulubrhan had a brilliant 2025 as he rises in the world of pro cycling, and he just confirmed a new 2-year contract with the XDS Astana Team. We hope to see his debut at the Vuelta or the Tour de France in 2026. Natnael Tesfatsion had a strong year with his new Movistar team, racking up 440 points. We think there is more to come from him in 2026 which is exciting. We expect Africa #9 Nahom Zeray Araya to stay pro in 2026, either with Team UKYO or secure another deal.
The full table of the Africa Tour top 10 men is below:
It is good to see riders from Algeria and South Africa in the top ten, as you would expect, but a shout out to Yacine Hamza of Algeria, who races for Africa’s #1 team Madar Pro Cycling, who has had a great year as this team continues to make a name for itself in Africa, and across Europe.
Other riders in the top ten to mention are (i) 20yo sprinter Milkias Maekele (Eritrea) who has raced his first pro season in 2025 for Team BIKE AID – one of the most prolific supporters of African riders over the last 15 years! There are rumours of a major transfer for Milkias for 2026 (unconfirmed at this time); and (ii) Alan Hatherly, also racing his first season as a road pro (whilst still racing MTB) who finished the season strongly with some strong results at the Tour of Guangxi in China.
We are also hearing rumours that the 18yo Nahom Efriem (2025 Eritrean Men’s Junior National Champion) who lit up the 2025 World Champs Men’s Junior race coming in #11 place, is also close to securing a pro deal for 2026.
It is also worth noting that 19 of the top 20 Africa Tour Men in 2025 all had contracts with professional teams, the only exception is #11 ranked Reinhardt Janse Van Rensburg who, having raced World Tour level for 15 years and now retiring, also counts! These 20 riders hail from Eritrea, South Africa, Algeria, Mauritius so showing a good spread across the African continent. And with five riders in the 20-30 ranked list also on pro teams, the representation of African riders in pro racing is still very high.
UCI Africa Tour – Nations Rankings
In terms of the Africa Tour Nation Rankings, as mentioned, Eritrea leads the way, with three times as many points as the second placed team (South Africa). This is a truly sterling effort, and underlines Eritrea’s incredible position as Africa’s leading cycling nation. If you factor in the country’s GDP, and relative isolation from external influence, this is a truly incredible testament to the amazing cycling culture there. South Africa and Algeria make up the rest of the top three, who are also distanced from the rest.
It is good to see Mauritius’ continued growth based on a strong development programme over the last few years (both Men’s and Women’s cycling) and they sit strongly in fourth, 300 points ahead of Morocco.
These five nations are very much the ‘Champions League’ of African professional cycling for the last few years. We would note that South Africa are in a tricky position, with over a decade of having significant numbers of riders at the World Tour and Pro Conti levels, but with several recent retirements, the pipeline is looking very light for the next decade potentially.
The second group is made up of nations like Ethiopia, Cameroon, Benin, Rwanda, Namibia and Uganda, all of whom mainly score their UCI points from their National Championships. Sadly, we do not expect to see more than 2-3 riders from these nations on Men’s Continental teams in 2026, or if so, winning many points. On a positive note, more later, we do hope to see some female riders from these nations get Continental Team deals in 2026 to help grow their respective nation’s profile.
In 2025, there were seven professional teams registered on the African continental, headquartered in Algeria, Morocco, Rwanda and Egypt, and we are also happy to celebrate the incredible second season of the Madar Pro Cycling Team, who finish the season as the #1 African team, with a squad of Algerian and South Africa riders. There are rumours of some more exciting 2026 African rider hires as well.
They had a 100% increase in their UCI race days in 2025, a hugely important aspect for a Continental team. In addition, they have been racing across Africa and increasingly in Europe and wider, with invitations to the Tour of Estonia, Tour of Mersin, Tour of Bostonliq, Tour de Banyuwangi Ijen, Tour of Salalah, the Tour of Route Salvation and the Tour of Serbia. An impressive schedule of premium road races, and their performances have won them invitations to many more in 2026.
They finished the season as the World’s #55 pro team, a great result in just year two. They will be aiming to break that top 50 in 2026 for sure. Huge kudos to the whole team, and please do give them a follow on their social media to see their continued growth!
UCI 2025 Season Review – Women
As mentioned earlier, the current UCI Road Rankings do not feature an Africa Tour ranking for women. We hope to see this change in 2026, as the UCI continues to fix the lack of equilibrium in our sport.
However, we have created an exclusive version of what a 2025 Africa Tour Women’s table would look like – see graphic further below.
One doesn’t need to look at the league table to know that Mauritius’ Kim Le Court is the #1 African woman in 2026, with 2,082 UCI points. She has truly had a break-out year, and the 29yo seems to be growing more and more. She made African cycling history in the summer, wearing the famous Tour de France ‘maillot jaune’ (yellow jersey) for three days. This set a new African record, beating South Africa’s Daryl Impey who wore the jersey for two days back in 2013.
Kim’s win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes in April also set a new historical first, being the first time any African has won one of the ‘Monuments’ of world cycling. Kim also finishes the season as the World’s #8 pro rider, which we also believe is the highest ranked African man or woman at the end of a UCI season.
Her pro team colleague Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio comes in second place in Africa, with 339 UCI points, after a good 2025 season, but sadly lacking in a stand-out moment. Not being selected for the 2025 Tour de France would have been a huge disappointment for her, as evidenced by some strong comments in the Cycling Africa HBO Max documentary aired this summer.
The rest of the top ten are a group of riders with 118-177 UCI points, mainly due to points gained at the World and National Championships in 2025, as well as the Pupkewitz Megabuild Windhoek Women Tour which took place in Namibia in July/August. Of the 3-10 placed riders listed below, only S’annara and Diane were on UCI Continental teams in 2025 and we are hoping to see more African women on Continental road teams in Europe in 2026. This is the key next step in young rider development.
The Future of African Women’s Cycling
One of the key topics around African women’s cycling in 2025 and into 2026, is the performance of the group of young female riders who have been given their shot at racing for professional teams, and whether they will race with these teams in 2026.
The CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Generation women’s continental team had five African riders in 2025, an incredible commitment by this team to support the growth and development of African women’s cycling. Kudos to this team for their commitment over many years to giving these ladies a shot.
Sadly, several of these riders have not shown the growth and development required at this very competitive level of pro cycling and will most probably leave this team this year. Riders like Rwanda’s Diane Ingabire who has had three years on this team, with 12 DNFs in 2025, is most likely not going to get a deal for 2026 based on her lack of growth and development. Florence Nakagwa (Uganda) will also most likely not get a 2026 ride with the team. Her results and performances have not also showed the required growth and development sadly.
Maude Le Roux (South Africa) has also had a very difficult 2025 with injuries and is probably in danger of losing her spot on this team as well. Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye (Nigeria) has not had the best of luck with visa issues making her debut year in 2024 a nightmare, but with 12 DNFs in 2025, she is perhaps in danger also. 28yo Ethiopian Selam Amha Gerefiel has not raced since March 2025 either and we hear her racing career is coming to an end as well.
In more positive news, we were very happy to see s’annara Grove (South Africa) recently announced as racing for the UK’s Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team in 2026; and a rumour that the UCI World Cycling Centre Women’s Continental Team is looking to really make a mark in 2026, following the World Championships, and will field FOUR African women on their team. We expect this to include 21yo Jazilla Mwamikazi (Rwanda) to be on this team as she has showed some great development in the WCC’s #Africa2025 programme, and under the tutelage of her coaches at her Ndabaga Cycling Club back home.
Other riders we hope to see secure Women’s Continental Team rides in 2026 are Lucie de Marigny-Lagesse (Mauritius), Tiffany Keep (South Africa), Georgette Vignonfodo (Benin), Serkalem Taye Watango (Ethiopia) and the big name from the World Championships: Tsige Kahsay Kiros (Ethiopia) who is rumoured to be securing a World Tour Devo team deal, and still just 18 years old!
You can see info on all the Men’s and Women’s contract renewals and new deals as they go live on our exclusive 2026 African Contract Tracker on our website. To see the historic 2025 data, click HERE.
#AfricaRising #AfricaCycling #UCI #AfricaTour
