What a week last week! This entire issue is dedicated to the amazing women of African cycling. These women are quickly exhibiting their prowess on the bicycle and their fierceness as competitors. This year’s Tour du Burundi hosted women from Benin, Uganda, Sierra Leone (the first professional international event), Senegal, Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Burundi.

The dedication and hard work of our athletes, coaches, and staff, along with a strong focus on women’s cycling on the continent, paid off in a big way at the Tour du Burundi. Everything we do at Africa Rising Cycling is aimed at preparing the current generation and training the next generation—local coaches, mechanics, and soigneurs —to excel in the sport we all love.

Benin Women

The women of Team Benin started better than their performance in 2023; however, they were not up to where the coach, Salami Avoceiten, felt they could be. If you remember, Salami spent 6 weeks in the US in intensive coaching training, on and off the bike. He dedicated himself to the firehose of knowledge our coaches pointed his way and showed his maturity and understanding of the sport in Burundi. The full results are HERE. However, the first three stages only tell part of the story. The Benin women were doing better. However, they were not firing on all cylinders as a team. Salami took the time to reach out to Coach Adrien and Coach Jock, and Coach Jock spoke to the women with Salami and laid out a strategy for Stages 4 and 5.

The women delivered — BIG TIME!

On Stage 4, Hermionne, Benin’s veteran female, took 2nd place in the final sprint and moved into 3rd in the General Classification (GC) thanks to the incredible teamwork of the women on her team. Stage 5, she WON the stage and retained her 3rd place GC. This win was the first time a Benin cyclist (man or woman) won a stage in an international race. The team followed up their 2023 performance with a 3rd place Team Classification win.

The final event was the Grand Prix of Burundi, which, as predicted, finished with a 14-woman sprint. Hermionne took 2nd, and 17-year-old Georgette, who recently participated in and completed the Junior Women’s Road Race at the World Champs in Switzerland in September, finished 3rd!

Sierra Leone

Another highlight was the first-time participation by the women of Sierra Leone. Africa Rising Cycling supported the Sierra Leonean women with a preparatory training camp and flights to the event. Despite the initial challenges of their first international race, the Sierra Leonean women fought daily to finish within the time limit. In the end, a young woman, Elizabeth, became the first Sierra Leonean woman to finish the Tour du Burundi. All these women showed incredible resilience and determination, quickly learning where they needed to be to race competitively with their peers. As our motto is ‘always be training,’ Sierra Leone coach Roxanne was there with the former National Champion of Sierra Leone, Isata, who had her debut as the National Coach of the Sierra Leone Women’s Team. Isata was not only an asset to her team but also helped the Ugandan women.

Finally, a big shout out to the winners from Burkina Faso and their coach, Veronique. African women’s cycling is on a meteoric trajectory, with talented riders and equally talented women coaches paving the way!

Watch a recap of the race below…