South African riders required to pay federation €1500+ to ride the Tour du Rwanda

Several riders withdraw from selection, although self-funding is not new for SA riders. Cost of trip to Rwanda has doubled in last two years

A South African rider takes a bottle during the 2024 men’s elite World Championships. Image: Albinfo/Wikimedia

Cycling South Africa have requested that riders contribute around 30,000 South African Rand (approx. €1550) in order to compete in the upcoming Tour du Rwanda, which begins on the 23rd of February.

South African riders have been self-funding their way to compete for the national team across World Championships, Continental Championships and other races since 2017, but Global Peloton understands that the fee paid to the federation by each individual rider has more than doubled in the last two years.

Multiple sources close to the national team have confirmed the figures to Global Peloton and several riders have declined the opportunity to race due to the cost.

One source said “unfortunately we have to self fund everything from nutrition, equipment, travel and even the national kit.”

“We also aren’t allowed to put sponsors on our national kit which makes getting personal sponsorships very hard.”

Including the South Africans, there will be five national squads taking on the Tour du Rwanda in just over two weeks, with teams from Rwanda, Angola, Ethiopia and Eritrea also present. The South African team are the only national squad who are required to cover full costs for the race.

Return flights from South Africa to Kigali cost between €300-€500, additional costs thought to be covered by the riders’ contributions include pay and travel for the DS and mechanic, plus extra equipment needed for the race. Multiple sources suggested that the approximately €7500 generated across the five riders could be more than is required for the race itself. However, the rate of inflation and performance of the South African Rand over the past few years are also factors for the increased fee.

“[It’s] crazy that the riders have to cover all that,” one source said.

Sources added that the payout for the Tour du Rwanda is peanuts compared to what CyclingSA expect riders to contribute to gain World Championships selection. Road riders Taneal Otto and Dillon Geary both resorted to setting up crowdfunding campaigns to enable them to compete at the World Championships in Zürich last year - a common story for South African riders.

Read more: 'I'm worried, something needs to be done' - Ryan Gibbons on the state of South African road cycling

The financial struggles endured by CyclingSA are not new. However, many are concerned that the federation has now gone too far in its requirements for riders.

“Unfortunately a Federation like CyclingSA does not get any substantial funding from Government and so the resources that we do have are spread very thin,” Greg Stedman, Vice President of CyclingSA responsible for sport and technical, told Global Peloton.

“We do support our riders for National Championships, however for competitions like this, we simply do not have the resources to pay for them to attend.”

“It is very difficult and expensive for SA riders to travel abroad and get opportunities to race in international events. Therefore, instead of turning these opportunities down, we take these race invites as an opportunity to enable our riders to gain international race experience. We invite riders to apply for a spot on the team, with the knowledge that they will be required to pay for the costs. We then select the best riders from the pool that has applied.”

“In no way is the requirement to pay a surprise to the riders, they are all sent a letter before the application process even opens explaining the race opportunity.”

“While this is not ideal, we have to use every opportunity that comes our way and pray that these riders get every opportunity available to them to try and break into the European racing scene.”

Stedman explained that this is a "transparent” process, with costs being shared with riders after the event has finished.

The original decision to require riders to self-fund their participation with the national team was made by CyclingSA back in 2017 due to the federation’s financial difficulties.

At that time, a statement by the then President of CyclingSA, William Newman, said: “Due to the current economic climate and limited funding and as part of our cost cutting and financial management discipline Cycling South Africa has instituted a few very important measures. One of these is the requirement for national team riders to fund their own travel and subsistence to international events – self-funded trips.”

“For a long period Cycling South Africa has tried to absorb as much of these costs for national teams, but we have reached the stage where this is no longer possible. This self-funded decision (along with the other cost-cutting measures) was not taken lightly.”

The state of cycling within South Africa has been a point of concern for several years. Riders like Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, Louis Meintjes and Stefan De Bod have enjoyed success over the last decade, but there are significant problems for the sport on the road back home.

Read more: How Team Amani plan to develop African road cycling

Speaking the Global Peloton in the summer of 2024, Lidl-Trek’s Ryan Gibbons said: “I do believe that, in five, ten years time, there's going to be two, one, or maybe even zero South Africans in the WorldTour. So I'm worried.”

“It’s a lack of investment, it's a lack of sponsorship, it's a lack of understanding, you know. The government don't really care or don't really understand, so there's no money coming from them to the Federation hosting events,” Gibbons added.

“There's a lot of political issues and things that sometimes are out of your control. It's definitely a problem and I'm sad to say that it's not looking good in the near future for South African cycling.”

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