Africa Rising: An Interview with Kimberly Coats

Eric Muhoza training with ANCA

On the 24th of September 2021, belief began its return on the continent of Africa. Eritrean emerging talent, Biniam Ghirmay, finished second in the under-23 World Championship Road Race in Flanders. He became the first African rider to reach the podium at this race.

In the spring of 2022, that belief increased exponentially when Ghirmay was victorious in both Gent-Wevelgem and stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia.

Kimberly Coats is CEO of Team Africa Rising. For more than a decade, TAR have worked for the development of African cycling, facilitating a pathway for Africans to become professionals in Europe and working to improve the cycling system across Africa.

Coats likens Ghirmay’s success to a similar moment in July 2015 when another Eritrean, Daniel Teklehaimanot, became the first black African to wear the polka dot jersey at the Tour de France.

“It was like the floodgates of belief opened,” Coats told me. “Every single of those kids went ‘I can do it’ because they saw someone like them. They knew Daniel, they'd raced against him at the Tour du Rwanda. They knew where he came from. They knew how hard his life was and they could see themselves doing it.”

“There has been such a lull since that time. We've now gone through a couple of Tours where there's been no black Africans, which is just heart-wrenching.”

With the emergence of Ghirmay at the very top level, there is now a new generation of African talent coming. Alongside the Gent-Wevelgem champion are the likes of Natnael Tesfatsion and Hagos Berhe - both joining Ghirmay in the World Tour in 2023.

Coats believes that these riders will create a snowball-effect for the generations after them.

“Biniam’s success was a pivotal moment… It's ones and twos right now. We're still dealing in single-digits on a continent with more than a billion people. This next generation with Biniam are going to have some break-out performances but then it's really going to be the generation after that where you're going to see the numbers.”

Prior to the 2022 season, many put their hope for African cycling in the hands of the various guises of Doug Ryder’s Qhubeka team. The professional squad folded in 2021 after struggling with sponsorship over a few years.

The team supported the early careers of many African riders who are currently established in the professional peloton. However, in the final season of the team’s existence only two African riders featured.

Ryder returns in 2023 with a new Swiss ProTeam in collaboration with Vincenzo Nibali. When the squad was announced, it came under criticism online as it only features one African rider: talented Ethiopian Negasi Haylu Abreha.

One word sums up Coats’ feelings about the new team’s line-up: “Disappointed.”

“I admire Douglas for a lot of things. He's the only person that has been able to raise the big money for teams. I give him kudos for that, but I just feel like he's leaving them behind.”

“When they were a pro conti team and they got the invite to Milan San Remo and they won, that was it. That slammed the door for African riders because now the pressure was on to win… I looked at that roster and I just sighed. He knows how hard this is.”

The demise of African investment from Ryder’s team has compounded the issues facing male African riders trying to make it as professionals. For years, African hopefuls knew that they had professional opportunities through this team. It appears that this is no longer the case.

There will continue to be a development team linked to Q36.5. This team will feature six promising Africans in 2023 - four continuing and two new.

Encouragingly, an increasing number of teams are now taking in African riders. In 2023, ten professional teams will feature one or more African riders. This is progress, but the road continues to be hard and long for Africans who want to make it.

One obvious and unavoidable ongoing issue is that of visas. It is very difficult to get visas for Africans in Europe and elsewhere.

TAR worked with the Canyon SRAM//Generation team in 2022 to get young Deborah Conteh of Sierra Leone to Europe. The process was difficult to say the least.

“Four different visa applications, four different embassies. She had to travel to Ghana. It never happened. We couldn't get it.”

This is one of the main reasons why teams don’t want to sign African riders.

“Teams don't want to take the chance. I don't blame them to some extent. The visa issues are excruciating. I understand the nervousness of teams want to take an African rider. But that shouldn't be the reason that they don't sign them.”

Conteh was one of a number of black African female riders signed to UCI teams in Europe this year, even if she didn’t make it there.  

In 2022, we saw the emergence of Ethiopia’s Selam Amha Gerefiel and Rwanda’s Valantine Nzayisenga. Both had solid seasons and will hope in the coming years to become the first black African female riders to race in the World Tour.

Amha was one of the first riders to benefit from a training camp with TAR. “She was one of our first ones. To see her doing so well is great,” said Coats. 

Coats tells me that the road to the professional peloton in Europe is even more difficult for African women than it is for men: “As hard as it is with men, take it times ten for the women.”

Cultural adjustment is another hurdle that African riders often struggle to leap over.

“Some of these kids don't do well abroad. They grew up in their village not speaking English or French. They get thrown into a team in Europe and it's cold and they don't know anybody.”

This means extra effort for teams in taking on African riders, and patience too.

“It takes work. You have to do some hand-holding… Some of these kids just take time.”

So with all these barriers, what’s the solution?

In Europe, the foundation of professional road cycling is the Continental level. In these teams, riders get the opportunities to race every week, the talent rises to the top and gets signed by the pro teams. With a European worldview, surely the solution is more Continental teams in Africa. Right?

“I thought at one point that the answer was more continental teams in Africa and more races. That was where we were going at one point.”

In 2022, there were five Continental teams registered in Africa. Two barely raced and didn’t leave their home country. Two others raced fewer than 15 UCI races over the year. The other, Protouch, has folded. What’s the problem?

“There's no races. That's the big thing. You have a Continental team in Belgium, they just get in their car and go to Holland, they can go all over the place racing. It doesn't cost so much money… if African teams want to do a race, they're going to somewhere like Gabon. Tour of Benin, they’re really committed to African countries which is great, but it's one race. Then you have to fly and take your stuff. Every trip is $10000. Even if teams go to these African races, they just aren't Europe.”

So it doesn’t make sense for African Continental teams to race in Africa. If they want to race elsewhere the competition is greater so there is more benefit, but it’s even more expensive.

So what is the solution?

“We have switched out whole thinking to be just get them to Europe.”

TAR is working with a number of projects and teams to make this happen.

“We're working with Jamie Anderson from the Flandrien Hotel to take some riders. We've got Steven Laget in France. He took two riders, Eric Muhoza and Samuel Niyonkuru from Rwanda and two from Benin, Ricardo Sodjede and Glorad Saizonou. They learned so much when they were with Steven. They just need to be there and they need to be there for long enough.”

“JP Van Zyl from the UCI World Cycilng Center in South Africa has a camp with a big group now from all over. We're about to send a Ugandan girl there next week to join them. Out of this group, he hopes to take the best ones to Europe for six months to race spring and summer. That will make the difference. That's where you are going to find the break-out stars... JP’s goal is to get one of these juniors on the podium in Rwanda 2025.”

We’re already seeing the benefits of these programmes. The riders who have been racing in Europe have progressed extremely quickly.

“Eric Muhoza was a disaster his first few races in France, but then the UCI took him to the Tour de l'Avenir and he finished 70th. There were about 80 DNFs in that race. That was solid. Then he went back to France and won a local race.”

Eric is due to have a big 2023 with a new team.

Looking to the future, on the horizon is the 2025 World Championships in Rwanda.

“The Worlds will be great for cycling in Africa. For Rwanda, it will either be the best thing or the worst thing.”

Male Rwandan talent has been in decline since the days of Adrien Niyonshuti riding for Qhubeka – he left the team in 2017.

With no established current professionals, it is hard to see how Rwanda can have an impact on those championships on the road at the male elite level. Eric Muhoza will be a final year under 23 in 2025. He along with Samuel Niyonkuru will be their big hopes for a result.

It’s a similar story for the women. Valantine Nzayisenga and Diane Ingabire will likely be their leaders, but they have a long way to go to be contenders.

Even with the numerous obstacles in African cycling development, Coats remains optimistic.

“I'm still hopeful, otherwise I wouldn't keep going. I have my days when I kick stuff across the yard and use obscenities. Especially when I see somebody taking advantage of the cyclists or taking advantage of the system.”

“Seeing how Adrien invests in those kids. Seeing people that we brought up through the system now being the ones who are developing the system, that is the best.”

“African cycling does not need a white woman from Kansas. It needs to be run by Africans, but we just haven't found all the ones who can do it yet. People like Adrien and Hubert at ANCA among a few others. That's what gets me excited, I'm starting to see these people taking control and doing it the right way.”

Developing African cycling to be an established force on the world scene will take effort from everybody involved in cycling.

“It's going to take all of us to make this happen. It takes federation buy-in, the UCI, teams, the media - they need to tell the stories.”

I’d venture further. I think we need the fans to speak up and demand greater inclusivity and equal opportunity in the sport. Demand it of team sponsors who often hold the power.

There is hope. We all have a part to play.