# And now for some good news...



## Flying_Monkey (16 Sep 2012)

MTN-Qhubeka will become the first ever African pro-continental team from next season. For all the UCI's obsession with China, cycling needs support to develop in places where there are huge reserves of untapped cycling talent - Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi in particular have traditions of cycling despite an almost complete lack of money and opportunity and this team has offered a showcase for these riders. Let's hope this spurs some more cycling development in Africa.


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## iLB (16 Sep 2012)

Did I read they signed Ciolek?


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## thom (16 Sep 2012)

iLB said:


> Did I read they signed Ciolek?


yep i saw that too


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## Flying_Monkey (16 Sep 2012)

That's probably one of the things that gave them the necessary points.


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## Monsieur Remings (16 Sep 2012)

Here here! Thanks for bringing that to our attention FM.


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## just jim (17 Sep 2012)

Rwanda cycling: The unlikely bike boom (BBC link)


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## Muguruki (17 Sep 2012)

Good news indeed. As someone who has spent far too much time in east Africa I've always thought that if there were enough affordable road bikes for the locals there would be many a cycling super star coming out of the African continent. I've often envied the strength of some of the bicycle taxi riders that have schlepped me across towns in Uganda on heavy mild steel Chinese made bikes. 

Africa Oye!


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## Flying_Monkey (17 Sep 2012)

Well, Daniel Teklehaymanot from Eritrea did pretty well for Orica-Green Edge in his first pro-Tour season. And there are several potential stars in the MTN line-up from Rwanda and Burundi as well as more from Eritrea.


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## Buddfox (17 Sep 2012)

Flying_Monkey said:


> Well, Daniel Teklehaymanot from Eritrea did pretty well for Orica-Green Edge in his first pro-Tour season. And there are several potential stars in the MTN line-up from Rwanda and Burundi as well as more from Eritrea.



It's an interesting and positive development. I must confess up until a couple of months ago I couldn't name a cyclist from Africa who wasn't Robbie Hunter. I spotted Teklehaymanot in the Olympic road race and was (embarrassingly enough) surprised to see him doing so well. I just didn't put cycling and Eritrea together. Since then I've seen him doing the hard yards for Orica GreenEdge and hope this development means more to come.


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## Flying_Monkey (17 Sep 2012)

There's a little bit of history here. Eritrean and Ethiopian cycling is one of the few positive legacies of the Italian colonial occupation of what was then Abyssinia. There is a a Tour of Eritrea which is one of the top African races, and a really tough one at that.

And watch out for this guy, Natnael Behane, who will ride for Europcar next season. A major talent. You heard it here first!


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## thom (17 Sep 2012)

Rouleur has had a couple of articles on african cycling - issue 28 & 29 on the Tour of Rwanda for example


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## johnr (17 Sep 2012)

Thanks for the posting. I think we've found our second favourite team.


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## Muguruki (18 Sep 2012)

I think we would have heard more from Eritrean cyclists but the Eritrean government keeps a close eye on their cyclists and runners as they tend do to slope off and seek asylum while they are out of the country. Didn't a few Eritreans seek asylum after the world champs in Copenhagen last year?

Monkey; You are right about the Italians in Eritrea have you read the book "I Didn't Do It For You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation" by Michela Wrong. A fine book I can well recommend mind you I enjoyed everything I've read by Michela Wrong.

Thom: I did see one of those copies of Rouleur about the Rwandan tour in W. H.Smiths, but once I saw the price I put it back on the shelf. Lovely magazine mind!

Just a thought. Does anyone know if qat is on the UCI banned drugs list?


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## Arsen Gere (18 Sep 2012)

I can't wait for Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen to do the commentry. They have enough bother with english names.


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## Flying_Monkey (18 Sep 2012)

The Eritrean government is not amongst the nicest in the world, putting it mildly. I have a colleague who does research on security and surveillance over there and it's best described as an incompetent totalitarian regime...


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## thom (18 Sep 2012)

Muguruki said:


> Thom: I did see one of those copies of Rouleur about the Rwandan tour in W. H.Smiths, but once I saw the price I put it back on the shelf. Lovely magazine mind!


Pics by Ben Ingham online here


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## Flying_Monkey (18 Sep 2012)

thom said:


> Pics by Ben Ingham online here


 
Superb shots. Thanks.


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## Russell Allen (18 Sep 2012)

truly beautiful photographs


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## Muguruki (20 Sep 2012)

Yep! Lovely photos.


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## User169 (15 Oct 2012)

This might be worth a look for those interested in African cycling..

http://risingfromashesthemovie.com/

(Oddly, it doesn't seem to be mentioned in the BBC link above)


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## thom (15 Oct 2012)

Delftse Post said:


> This might be worth a look for those interested in African cycling..
> 
> http://risingfromashesthemovie.com/
> 
> (Oddly, it doesn't seem to be mentioned in the BBC link above)


Excellent - thanks, will look out for the film on release.


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## Rubber Bullets (15 Oct 2012)

Arsen Gere said:


> I can't wait for Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen to do the commentry. They have enough bother with english names.


 
Phil Ligget may have a problem, but Paul Sherwen was brought up in Kenya, and now lives in Uganda, and speaks fluent Swahili, so he shouldn't have any problems. In fact he might be better at the African names.

RB


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## User169 (15 Oct 2012)

Talking of Uganda and Rwanda - if you were to cycle across the border between those two countries, what would you need to do?


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## thom (15 Oct 2012)

Delftse Post said:


> Talking of Uganda and Rwanda - if you were to cycle across the border between those two countries, what would you need to do?


Take a boat ? Is their border on Lake Victoria ?


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## User169 (15 Oct 2012)

thom said:


> Take a boat ? Is their border on Lake Victoria ?


 
Cross to the other side of the road! Uganda is drive on the left, Rwanda drive on the right, which I suppose reflects their colonial legacies. It's one of only a few land borders where this happens apparently.


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## Muguruki (15 Oct 2012)

Take what you like to Rwanda but don't take any plastic carrier bags! They are well strict on bags I've heard of travellers having their carrier bags taken from them at the border.

Dervla Murphy cycled across the border in her book Ukimwi road where she cycles from Kenya to South Africa.

I've only got as far as Kabale the town near the border.

Oh, and Rwanda is not on Lake Victoria.


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## PpPete (15 Oct 2012)

Don't know what that particular border is like, but the standard "visa" (or if you prefer, "gift" for co-operative border guards) in most of post-colonial Africa always used to be a carton of 200 Marlboro.


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## User169 (15 Oct 2012)

Rubber Bullets said:


> Phil Ligget may have a problem, but Paul Sherwen was brought up in Kenya, and now lives in Uganda, and speaks fluent Swahili, so he shouldn't have any problems. In fact he might be better at the African names.
> 
> RB



Running a gold mine in which liggett and armstrong are investors!


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## thom (19 Oct 2012)

Surely there must be some good news ?


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## Sam Cycling (19 Oct 2012)

Flying_Monkey said:


> There's a little bit of history here. Eritrean and Ethiopian cycling is one of the few positive legacies of the Italian colonial occupation of what was then Abyssinia. There is a a Tour of Eritrea which is one of the top African races, and a really tough one at that.
> 
> And watch out for this guy, Natnael Behane, who will ride for Europcar next season. A major talent. You heard it here first!


 

I read approx 10 years ago about cyclin in Eritrea and it was very popular sport !


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## thom (22 Oct 2012)

The future's bright :


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## johnr (2 Nov 2012)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/31/cycling-in-yemen-struggle
Not exactly good news, but relevant to this thread, I think


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## Flying_Monkey (6 Dec 2012)

My new favourite rider and one to watch for next season: Songezo Jim.


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## User169 (9 Jan 2013)

Just saw that MTN-Qhubeka have a wild-card entry to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, so we'll be seeing these cats in action pretty soon.


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## Flying_Monkey (9 Jan 2013)

Delftse Post said:


> Just saw that MTN-Qhubeka have a wild-card entry to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, so we'll be seeing these cats in action pretty soon.


 
Great!


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## oldroadman (9 Jan 2013)

There co9uld be a whole load of useful riders coming from the "undeveloped" african countries, their tough lives and seemingly natural endurance talent are a great base to wok from. All they would need is a proper training regime/nutrition, good equipment, and technical/tactical guidance, which of course takes faith and money, but given that, within 5 years it's possible could be an african team (excluding SA) at world tour level, plus a good number pro-conti and pleny of continental.
The worlds could get very interesting too!


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## Flying_Monkey (22 Jul 2013)

A really excellent article in _The Guardian_ on Rwanda's Adrien Niyonshuti.


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## Flying_Monkey (26 Jul 2013)

And... the incredibly talented Eritrean rider, Daniel Teklehaimanot, of whom great things were expected, has finally won a race in his debut season for Orica-GreenEdge - the Prueba Villafranca-Ordiziako Klasika, in Spain.


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## Flying_Monkey (6 Aug 2013)

Cyclingnews has a blog for Ethiopian champion, Tsgabu Grmay, for the Tour of Utah


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## Strathlubnaig (6 Aug 2013)

An opening as a stagiaire for
Merhawi Kudus (Eritrea) with Bretagne Seche.


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## Buddfox (28 Sep 2013)

Just saw some tweets from Dan Lloyd about Kudus:

@daniellloyd1: The World Cycling Centre is a great facility - had the privilege of meeting supported rider Merhawi Kudus a couple of days ago. 19 years old

@daniellloyd1: From Eritrea - 11th in l'avenir, 15th in yesterdays world's u23, many other solid results this year.

The more coverage like this, the better


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## Flying_Monkey (14 Nov 2013)

And some extra good news for African cycling fans... Adrien Niyonshuti is back and racing. Some may recall that this really promising rider was all lined up to do big things in Europe last season with MTN-Qhubeka and then was diagnosed with deep-vein thrombosis. The treatment meant blood thinners , leading of course to the opposite effect of what EPO does - low heamocrit, and therefore made it impossible for him to compete in 2013. Now he's better, yay.


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## rich p (14 Nov 2013)

Flying_Monkey said:


> And some extra good news for African cycling fans... Adrien Niyonshuti is back and racing. Some may recall that this really promising rider was all lined up to do big things in Europe last season with MTN-Qhubeka and then was diagnosed with deep-vein thrombosis. The treatment meant blood thinners , leading of course to the opposite effect of what EPO does - low heamocrit, and therefore made it impossible for him to compete in 2013. Now he's better, yay.


 I've just finished reading a book about Rwandan cycling called "The Land of Second Chances" which is largely about Adrien. Worth a read if the subject interests you.


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## ColinJ (14 Nov 2013)

Flying_Monkey said:


> And some extra good news for African cycling fans... Adrien Niyonshuti is back and racing. Some may recall that this really promising rider was all lined up to do big things in Europe last season with MTN-Qhubeka and then was diagnosed with deep-vein thrombosis. The treatment meant blood thinners , leading of course to the opposite effect of what EPO does - low heamocrit, and therefore made it impossible for him to compete in 2013. Now he's better, yay.


I'm glad he's back!

I have never heard of Warfarin (or other anticoagulants) causing low red blood cell counts and I have been reading a lot about it since I developed the same condition as him and have been taking the drug.

There is no evidence to show use of EPO in his case, but in the early days of its abuse by other cyclists, several died from blood clots before it was realised that precautions were needed to avoid that risk. If people abusing EPO stop doing it, then their performance would suffer. (I know that is not what you are suggesting, and I am not either. I just think you are wrong to blame the medication for his layoff.)

I think the reason that his illness stopped him competing was that it had progressed to pulmonary embolism, which is a very serious life-threatening condition! Some people suffer sudden death from it, and many die more slowly. Others, like me have their aerobic capacity severely damaged. 15 months on, I have only got about 60% of mine back. It would be impossible to compete in that state, and it would be foolish to try.

He is younger and fitter, and has clearly made a better recovery than me. I wish him future good health and a succesful career!


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## Pro Tour Punditry (14 Nov 2013)

Sorry to hear that ColinJ, hope you get back to racing soon. Fingers crossed.


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## ColinJ (14 Nov 2013)

Marmion said:


> Sorry to hear that ColinJ, hope you get back to racing soon. Fingers crossed.


Sorry, I can see my post was ambiguous ... I meant it would be foolish for any athlete to try and compete before they had fully recovered from such a dangerous illness.

I've never raced, but it took me 8 months to even get back on a bike again.

Serena Williams was able to get back up to full competitive fitness in less than a year after suffering a pulmonary embolism in 2011, but some people do not survive them, and many others never fully recover..


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## Flying_Monkey (15 Nov 2013)

ColinJ said:


> I just think you are wrong to blame the medication for his layoff



I should just make it clear that this was information from the Cyclingnews article. I don't have any personal knowledge of the case...


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## ColinJ (15 Nov 2013)

Flying_Monkey said:


> I should just make it clear that this was information from the Cyclingnews article. I don't have any personal knowledge of the case...


The concern is that the anticoagulant drugs mean that one would tend to bleed a lot more after an injury. In the case of a head injury, that could be very serious. Bleeding on the brain is always a risk when taking these drugs. I would imagine that the UCI would be reluctant to issue a racing licence to any rider on them.

Ah - I just found this article which backs that up!


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## ColinJ (15 Nov 2013)

When there is no obvious underlying cause for the original DVT, there is about a 30% chance of developing another one in the following 10 years, but I am sure that Niyonshuti will be very careful to minimise his risks in future. 

Fingers crossed for him! I only lasted 3 months off Warfarin, before I developed my second DVT/PE. If that happened to an athlete, it could very well be career-ending.


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