Racing all over the world
A big round up from big races in Algeria, Japan, Brazil, Mali and more
For most of us, the focus over the last few weeks has been on the big races in Italy and Spain, where Tadej Pogačar and Demi Vollering have been dominating the headlines.
Away from the big stories, there has been a glut of UCI races taking place all around the world, with alternative storylines being written.
If you missed them, don’t worry, here’s a big old global cycling round-up for you, starting with some racing in Algeria which was almost as long as the Giro d’Italia.
Team Madar win home race at Tour d’Algérie
New Algerian Continental squad Team Madar, home to last year’s 17 UCI race winning Yacine Hamza, won their first stage race last week at home at the 2.2 Tour d’Algérie.
Hamza won four stages and the points jersey at the 10-stage race, but it was 29-year-old Nassim Saidi who won the event overall, snatching the lead away from Eritrea’s Meron Teshome on the final stage.
Teshome had led the race from stage 6 after infiltrating several splits off the front of the main bunch. He missed the front group of 12 on the final day and finished 29th, 2.57 down on stage winner Chris Rougier-Lagane of Mauritius, who finished third on GC.
Other stage wins came for Youcef Reguigui (2) of Terengganu, German Meo Amann of Bike Aid, Ayoub Ferkous riding for the UCI World Cycling Centre team and young Eritrean Milkias Maekele.
Maekaele is just 18 and was particularly impressive riding for the Eritrean national team. He’s a quick sprinter and featured in the top-10 on three other occasions during the race. Earlier this season, Maekaele was 5th in the African Games Criterium race. He looks a big prospect for the future.
The Tour was book-ended by three UCI 1.2 races, making up a brutal 13 days of racing in 14.
The day before the Tour was the GP de la Ville d'Oran, which was also won by Nassim Saidi. Maekaele backed up his excellent performance with a win at the Grand Prix de la Ville d'Annaba. Former Q36.5 Conti rider Hamza Amari won the final race of the block by sprinting to victory at the GP de la Ville d'Alger.
It was a pretty dominant couple of weeks for Team Madar who will now look to launch into their late-starting inaugural season. During these home races, they also took part in the Tour of Sakarya in Türkiye. They now look ahead to the Tour de Maurice in June, but hope to be invited to more races across Africa, Asia and Europe.
Carboni wins Tour of Japan for JCL UKYO
Two stage wins helped Italian Giovanni Carboni win the Tour of Japan, more than two minutes ahead of Merhawi Kudus.
The 8-stage race is one of the biggest multi-day races in Asia. Carboni seized control on the lumpy stage three by forcing a strong five-man group to the line, taking 1.33 over the main bunch. The JCL-UKYO rider then drove home his advantage on the mighty slopes of Mount Fuji, almost half a minute ahead of Terengganu’s Kudus. Australian Benjamin Dyball of Victoire Hiroshima was third overall.
While there is a strong cycling scene for the men in Japan, the local riders often struggle to get a foothold at this race - there has only been one Japanese winner in the last 20 years. The 2024 race was largely the same, Marino Kobayashi of Matrix Powertag was their best finisher in 7th overall. They were, however, very competitive on almost every stage, with stage podium finishes for Hayato Okamoto x2 (Aisan), Yoshiki Terada (Shimano), Shunsuke Imamura (Japan), Tetsuo Yamamoto (Japan), Kazushige Kuboki (Japan) and Naoki Kojima (Japan).
And just to keep this drum banging - this race is a good candidate to go WorldTour in the future. Japan is worthy of a big race with its thriving domestic scene, big cycling businesses and potentially stunning parcours. Do you agree? Tell me what you think:
Brazil hosts the Pan-American Championships
Some of the biggest days of racing all year west of the Atlantic and an opportunity for riders to wear a special jersey over in Europe for the next year.
There was a surprise home win early on in the championships. Otavio Gonzeli won the men’s under-23 road race (there was no equal category for the women unfortunately). Hugely talented Jaider Muñoz (COL) was second and Jose Ramon Muniz (Mex), who supported Isaac del Toro to his Tour de l’Avenir win last year, was third.
Chile’s Hector Quintana won the men’s under-23 TT, with Bermuda’s Nicolas Narraway and Argentina’s Mateo Kalejmann also on the podium.
The women’s TT was won by the evergreen 49-year-old Amber Neben, with compatriot Lauren Stephens second. Chilean Aranza Villalón was third.
Stephens went one better in the women’s road race by sprinting to the win. Brazil’s Wellyda Regisleyne Dos Santos Rodrigues was second and Chilean Catalina Soto Campos third.
Colombian Walter Vargas won the men’s TT for a record fifth time. Panama’s Franklin Archbold was second and Orluis Aular of Venezuela third.
Venezuela took the top-step in the men’s road race, with Leangel Linarez chipping off the front of the group in the last kilometer. Grenada’s Red Walters finished a brilliant second by winning the bunch kick and Colombia’s Wilmar Paredes was third.
Red Walters Interview - Representing Grenada
In the second in a Global Peloton series of off-season interviews, I chatted with Red Walters, Grenada’s first elite cyclist. The 24-year-old sprinter races for UCI Continental team X-Speed United. It’s been a season that has taken him from high profile Belgian semi-classics, to taking his first UCI win in Bulgaria and finished with trips to the Caribbe…
Tour du Mali
The Tour du Mali returned last week for its fourth edition after a two year hiatus. It also returns as a UCI race, having been at national level for the second and third editions.
The race was won for a second time in a row by a rider from Mali, Yaya Diallo. It’s an impressive win when you consider that he was battling with riders from much more established cycling nations such as Morocco and Burkina Faso - although neither sent their strongest riders. Morocco’s Lahcen Saber was second overall and Issiaka Cissé of Côte d’Ivoire was third.
Diallo won the second and sixth stages, with other wins coming for Burkina Faso’s Mohamadi Ilboudo and Vincent Mouni, Morocco’s Zouhair Rahil and Mali’s Tiemoko Diallo.
The Tours of Bostonliq
Remember this race from last year? Well it’s changed slightly for 2024 as it’s now a stage race, but at this race last year was the cases of the alleged motorbike cheating and allegedly fabricated national championships.
Uzbekistan welcomes back UCI racing once again early this week with the men’s and women’s Tours of Bostonliq.
At time of writing, the first two stages have been completed. The women’s opener was won by Yanina Kuskova of Tashkent City - although curiously the UCI Continental team is not racing this year and are instead split into clubs. The Uzbek’s fiercest competition over the next few days will come from the Astana Dewi Women Team which features India’s only UCI-registered rider, 19-year-old Jasmmek Kaur Sekhon.
The men’s first stage was won by 2023 Tour of Thailand champion Tegshbayar Batsaikhan of Mongolia.
Both opening stages were long time-trials and give their winners decent leads in the overall picture.
What a bumper week for global racing. And if that’s not enough for you to digest, the Tours of Cameroun, Maroc and Libya are coming up this week. Global cycling is in a purple patch.
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