Alongside our development work, it is vital we at Africa Rising Cycling always talk about and promote the many African riders riding in the professional peloton. These men and women are the inspirations for the next generation of talent from Africa, and continue to also improve the diversity of pro cycling.

Happy to share that (as of 24 January 2025) 21 of the top 30 UCI Africa Tour male African athletes now have professional contracts: representing Eritrea, Ethiopia, Algeria, Mauritius, Uganda, South Africa and Morocco; with 92 African male riders racing as professionals in the top three levels in 2025.

On the women’s side, it is looking good with six of the top 10 women having confirmed contracts for 2025, making it 19 African female riders racing professionally in 2025.

This means that currently, there are 111 African professional riders out there working hard to show what they can do. We asked Adrien Niyonshuti – one of the pioneers of African cycling, an Olympian in two cycling disciplines, the current Head Coach of Benin’s National Cycling Federation and our Technical Director – what he thought of the 2025 contract announcements:

“The number of African riders who will be in the pro peloton next year makes me so happy. Although there were a few Africans racing when I went pro back in 2009, I was the only Black African rider at many of my races. The scale and diversity we are now seeing is unprecedented, and will only continue. The young riders I am now coaching for the Benin National Team are so inspired by seeing this, and always ask me what it was like being a pro. I am so excited for African cycling in 2025!”

We look forward to hearing commentators talking about these riders a lot in 2025! Each rider’s name below is a hyperlink to their ProCyclingStats bio, their team and contract length, and their current UCI Africa Tour and overall UCI rankings:

Our partners ProCyclingStats have a live feed on all confirmed male and female pro transfers for 2025 and beyond globally on their website HERE.