Alongside our grass-roots 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 around the world.

Happy to share that (as of 12 August 2025) 26 of the top 30 #AfricaTour ranked male African athletes now have professional contracts: representing Eritrea, Ethiopia, Algeria, Mauritius, Uganda, South Africa and Morocco; with 120 African male riders now racing professionally in the top three UCI levels in 2025, with ten African men and two women at World Tour/Pro Continental level from four nations: Eritrea, South Africa, Ethiopia and Mauritius.

To give this some context, as of 12 August, 181 African male riders (just from the top 10 ranked nations) have UCI points. Just 92 riders from the USA have UCI points. There are 106 African riders (same 10 nations) on professional teams (World Tour, Pro Continental, Continental level), there are 53 from the USA. The USA’s current GDP is $27 trillion. The top 10 African cycling nations is £1.1 trillion.

With the huge disparity in access to equipment, cycling infrastructure, nutrition and simply wealth, this shows the potential of African cycling. However the percentage of these riders at the top two levels of professional cycling switches a little, so we still need to get more African riders into the WT/PCT levels.

On the women’s side, it is looking good with five of the top 10 women having confirmed contracts for 2025, making it 20 African female riders racing professionally in 2025. This means that there are 140 African professional riders out there working hard to show what they can do.

We asked Adrien Niyonshuti – one of the pioneers of African cycling at the highest level, and an Olympian in two cycling disciplines, the current Head Coach of Benin’s National Cycling Federation and Team Africa Rising’s Technical Lead – 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 and into 2026!”

There are also now seven professional cycling teams registered in Africa for the 2025 season, all at the UCI Continental level. Following a period of sustained racing across Europe, and a very successful showing at the Algeria National Championships, Madar Pro Cycling has amassed 679 points this year, making them Africa’s #1 team by a long way, and putting them into the top 50 UCI teams worldwide (#42).

Each rider’s name below is a hyperlink to their ProCyclingStats bio, their team and contract length, and their current UCI Africa Tour and UCI rankings (as at 12 August 2025):

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