AFRICAN CYCLING Weekly Wrap-Up

2023 – Week 10

Over the past week, we’ve seen outstanding performances from African cyclists on the World Stage. Over 60 riders competed in 10 different events in 7 countries, where many of them performed exceptionally well. Eritrean rider Dawit Yemane riding for Bike Aid, in Tour d’Algerie UCI 2.2, who regained the KOM jersey at the end of Stage 3 and hung onto it for the rest of the tour which finished on Thursday. Dawit is a 25 year old cyclist from Eritrea and has won 3 UCI races. He ended off his 2022 season with the overall win in Tour de Serbie. Watch out for this talented young man this year. 

 

 

Dawit Yemane winner of KOM jersey at Tour d’Algerie © tour_algerie_cyclisme

 

FEATURED RIDER OF THE WEEK

Our featured rider of the week is Kimberley Le Court De Billot riding for Efficient Infiniti Insure Pro MTB Team from South Africa.

 Kimberley is a 26-year-old cyclist from Mauritius. She is currently ranked 10th in the UCI Africa Tour Ranking, 241 in the UCI Ranking and has won 3 UCI races in her career.

After a successful start to the 2023 season at the African Continental Championships, where Kimberley won the CC Africa Team Time Trial, CC Africa Mixed Relay, as well as placing 3rd in the CC Africa Individual Time Trial she went on to continue this success, with a fantastic sprint at the 2023 Cape Town Cycle Tour last weekend.

 

Kimberley Le Court De Billott wins Cape Town Cycle Tour © Chris Hitchcock

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS THIS WEEK

Tour d’Algerie continued this week and, Algerian riders dominated the tour with some excellent results, like Yacine Hamza who won 4 stages, Youcef Reguigui who placed 5th in the Prologue and had 4 podium finishes including two wins and, Nassim Saidi who had 2 podium finishes, winning the 5th Stage. The African Rising Star of the Tour has to be 28-year old Aklilu Gebrehiwet who finished on the podium in 3rd place overall on GC. Aklilu concluded the tour with five Top 15 places and three Top 10 finishes. He went on to finish the week off with a 12th place in the GP de la Ville d’Alger with team mate Meron Teshom Hagos taking 2nd place in the UCI 1.2 race. Youcef Reguigui won the race and young South African Travis Stedman finished off in 4th place. 

South African rider Ryan Gibbons, riding for UAE Team Emirates participated in 2 events; Danilith Nokere Koerse UCI 1.Pro where he placed in the Top 25 only 0.23” behind the winner and GP De Denain UCI 1.Pro in the Top 35.

 Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay took on the Milano-Torino UCI 1.Pro where he placed in the Top 20 of the final bunch sprint and fellow countryman Amanuel Gebreigzabhier only 0.19″ down.

 With Tour de Taiwan done and dusted, our South African riders performed well and produced some good results. Brandon Downes was the highest placed rider for the tour with with one Top 20 finish and a Top 25 finish and finishing 25 on the GC only 0.35″ down on the overall GC. Travis Barrett had two Top 25 finishes and Callum Ormiston one Top 25 finish, riding for his new Global 6 Cycling Team. You can read more about Callum in our featured article here.