'African cycling has not arrived, it is leaving' - an open letter from Q36.5 Conti manager, Kevin Campbell

Dear Cycling, good-bye, from Africa, by Kevin Campbell

Kevin Campbell has been involved with cycling teams since the 1990s. He helped to launch the Qhubeka continental development team in 2016 as its Team Manager, and has worked with almost every current African professional in the men’s peloton.

The development team that he runs will close at the end of this season. It’s a massive loss to African cycling development, which needs pathways for riders to race in Europe.

Campbell has decided to write an open letter to share his perspective on the state of African cycling development, the closing of the team and what the future holds.

Biniam Girmay and Louis Meintjes at the 2024 Tour de France. Image: A.S.O./Charly Lopez

An Open Letter: Dear Cycling, good-bye, from Africa.

There are 10 of them, 10 African riders currently riding on UCI registered Professional Teams:

Biniam, Louis, Hagos, Natnael, Henok, Stefan, Ryan, Mulu, Amanuel, Negasi.

I know them all, I’ve worked directly with 9 of them and 7 of them have passed through our development team, which I have managed for the past 8 years.

Unfortunately, the decision makers on our team’s management have decided that there is no longer a need for our development team to continue. Come 2025, Q36.5 Continental Team will be no more.

Oh well! Another Conti team closing, but at least there are still many more around. But wait a second, there are still opportunities for African riders, aren’t there?

Yes I hear. Biniam won the Green jersey at the Tour de France. The UCI World Championships are heading to Rwanda. African Cycling has arrived! But didn’t they say that in ’22 when Bini won Ghent-Wevelgem? That year there were 12 African riders in the pro peloton.

Daniel Teklehaimanot won the Mountains jersey in the Dauphine in 2015, riding on an African registered team. Eritrea celebrated and Africa had also arrived back then, when there were 16 African riders racing professionally.

The reality is, African cycling has been experiencing a steady decline in representation at the highest level of the sport over the last 10 years. In 2014 there were 23 African riders with pro contracts, the most there has ever been, and we know that next year there will probably be less than 10.

African cycling has not arrived, it is leaving.

Doug (Ryder), Carol (Austin) and I decided to address the issue. We started our African development team, registering as a continental team in 2016 and basing ourselves permanently in Italy. The team’s name changed over the years, as team names do in cycling, but the core aims remained the same: Provide opportunities for African riders.

We soon realised though, that cycling actually doesn’t care. Yes, some rider stories make for great marketing opportunities, some riders provide great photo opportunities, but the game, the sport, the business of cycling doesn’t care. A rider has to perform!

Nobody in cycling cares where an athlete comes from or what they’ve had to overcome to get to the start line. It’s all about performance. And this is as it should be. Professional sports is demanding. There’s no place for sentiment. Language barriers, cultural differences, time zones, visa restrictions, these don’t count. Either a rider can, or he cannot.

But if a rider has the talent, I was told time and time again, they’ll ‘make it’. Talent always shows.

Oh yeah? Who then is looking to Africa for cycling talent?

Cycling is traditionally a European sport. The cycling monuments and biggest cycling events are all European. The riders need to prove themselves in Europe, said the wise cycling heads.

Sure. So they can ‘just’ travel to any European cycling country, find a team and then all will be well.

Yes, as you can imagine, the EU teams were falling over themselves to find undiscovered African riders. For the last 8 years almost all the non-white faces appearing on the start lines of major and minor cycling events in Europe were from the same organisation, our organisation.

Apart from consistently graduating riders into the pro ranks every year since 2016, we had our success stories: Joseph Areruya was the first African to win a stage in the Baby Giro. He also won 3 tours in Africa over the next year and thoroughly deserved a place on a professional team.

Nic Dlamini won the KOM jersey in the same Baby Giro. He also deserved his place on a WT team in 2018.

Mulu Kinfe Hailemichael, Stefan de Bod, Ryan Gibbons, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Natnael Tesfazion, Henok Mulueberhan, Negasi Haylu Abreha. Not all with names that roll easily off the tongue, but they have all earned their place in the Pro peloton. Biniam Girmay entered the pro ranks with a bang, while Louis Meintjes has been a regular name on commentators lips in grand tours for years.

As cycling dictated, if they’re good enough they’ll make it.

All those talented athletes need is opportunity. What our team did was provide the opportunity. The team staff did not ride their bikes for them, did not put in the many miles of training, did not learn about the high level of European racing the hard way. All the team tried to do was give them world class equipment, coaching and guidance. The hard part was theirs to do. And these riders did it!

Not all our talented African riders were talented enough though. Some just could not make the performance leap but isn’t that true in all sports. Sometimes trying and desire is just not enough, but you have to try.

So, our team is no longer required. We had hoped that there’d be more African teams following our lead, but not all hopes turn into reality. We did not do this completely alone. There have been and still are a few teams actively trying to find opportunities for African riders, but these teams tend to be underfunded while looking for opportunities all over the world. African names regularly appear in the results and on the podiums in Asian events.

The question is not: where does the next generation of African riders come from? We know where they are from. The real question is how are they going to get here, to Europe? All they are yearning for is an opportunity.

Who is going to provide that opportunity now?

Kevin Campbell – Team Manager, Q36.5 Continental Cycling Team.

---

Thanks for reading Global Peloton!

The best way to support Global Peloton is to add a paid subscription. Your subscription enables me to bring you more international cycling news and stories.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing and sharing.

Or, you can Buy Me a Coffee