The biggest race in the Indian Ocean - Inside the Tour de Maurice
With reflections from Saint Piran's Alexandre Mayer + stage-by-stage breakdown of five days of racing in Mauritius
The sport of cycling is growing in all corners of the planet, even on a tiny spec on a map, more than 2,000km east of mainland Africa in the middle of the Indian Ocean - the island nation of Mauritius.
Last week saw the island’s premier race, the Tour de Maurice, which has been a UCI 2.2 event since 2023, welcoming some of the best talent from Africa as well as several European teams. Alongside the stage race sits the UCI 1.2 Courts Mammouth Classique de l'Île Maurice.
Below, we’ll get the view of Mauritius’ top performer at the race, Alexandre Mayer. First, here’s a run-down of the five days of racing. For a more visual insight into the race, I also recommend heading over to photographer Daphney Dupré’s Instagram - her images in this piece are used with permission.
Coming into the race, the class of the field looked like Austrian Continental squad Team Felt-Felbermayr, who brought with them some of their best riders. Challenging the Europeans would be the likes of Mayer and Chris Rougier-Lagane from Mauritius, Andreas Miltiadis of Terengganu and riders from the other two Continental squads, Team Madar and Team Storck-Metropol Cycling.
The opening stage was a 4.1km prologue, won by former EF Education-NIPPO Development Team rider Marc Pritzen of South Africa. Pritzen is now racing domestically in South Africa and won the opening test by fractions of a second over Cyprus national champion Andreas Miltiadis (Terengganu). Polish rider Piotr Brozyna, riding for Team Felt-Felbermayr, was two seconds down in third.
Stage one took in several climbs throughout the middle of the course. With a field so varied in experience and ability, the big teams took the race on and reduced the group down to 12 at the finish. The peloton was decimated, with 11 riders finishing beyond the time limit. Another Team Felt-Felbermayr Pole Patrick Stosz sprinted to the win in the front group ahead of Mauritius’ African Games winner Alexandre Mayer. Uganda’s Charles Kagimu, preparing for his first Olympic Games, finished in fourth.
Thursday’s stage two was the big GC day, featuring a frighteningly steep final climb which left its mark on the race. It was a second Polish win in a row, Brozyna smashed the climb and the the competition to win by 1:57 over Mayer. Miltiadis was over three minutes down in third.
Team Felt-Felbermayr’s class was evident throughout the race, and they picked up a third win on the final stage with a third different rider. This time it was Austrian Felix Ritzinger who cruised to a solo breakaway win, with an advantage of 2:20 over the chasers.
Brozyna sealed the overall win ahead of Mayer and Miltiadis in a race where the Europeans were on top.
Two days after the conclusion of the Tour de Maurice, the 1.2 Courts Mammouth Classique de l'Île Maurice took place over 14 laps of a punchy 10km circuit.
A similar pattern from the stage race was followed. The peloton was ground down to a select group and Team Felt-Felbermayr took the victory. This time it was through their sprinter, the winner of the first stage of the Tour de Maurice, Patryk Stosz.
Veteran Algerian Youcef Reguigui was second for Terengganu and 21-year-old Mauritian Aurélien De Comarmond, who spends most of the season racing the French amateur circuit, was third.
Before moving on, a couple of other things worth mentioning.
The Rwandan national team also made the trip over to Mauritius, with just 15 months to go before they host the World Championships for 2025. Under new national coach David Louvet, the Rwandans have been steadily developing of late, while still lagging behind several other African nations. Their best performer in Mauritius was 22-year-old Vaincaire Masengesho who finished 7th overall at the Tour de Maurice.
Another person to note is the presence of a former WorldTour professional, South African Jaco Venter. Now 37, Venter spent many years on Doug Ryder’s Qhubeka-supporting team. He left that setup in 2019 after four years on the WorldTour but has continued to race domestically. Venter placed 7th at the Courts Mammouth Classique de l'Île Maurice.
The home nation’s best performer over the week of racing was Saint Piran’s Alexandre Mayer, lining up for the Mauritius national team.
The 26-year-old was strong throughout, with two second places and a fourth on stages leading to 2nd on GC at the Tour de Maurice. That was followed up by 6th at the Courts Mammouth Classique de l'Île Maurice. Here’s what he had to say to Global Peloton reflecting back on a successful week, giving some insight to the history of the race and talking about his season in Europe.
I’m really happy with my second place on GC and also Best African & Points jersey. It’s been a great week, I was really consistent and felt strong everyday.
The Tour of Mauritius used to be a battle between Reunion Island and Mauritius, after that some South Africans came to race and Chris Froome as well a long time ago, but it was always 1/2 strong riders but never 30/40 riders. It’s a bit of a shame that there isn’t more spectators on the road though.
Now that the race is UCI it brings lot more attention to the race, a few teams want to come race here, there is more pressure on the roads and it’s much faster as well.
Being with Saint Piran this year helped a lot. I raced two UCI 1.2s in France before coming and it was a really good preparation for Mauritius. Europe is definitely another level but I adapted myself well and kept getting stronger.
The next goals now are African champs, and my nationals as well. Maybe the rest of the season with Saint Piran but I don’t know where I’m racing yet.
Le Court hopes to represent Mauritius on the biggest stage
Away from the Tour de Maurice, Mauritius has been stamped firmly on the cycling map this year through the performances of AG Insurance - Soudal rider Kim Le Court.
The 28-year-old roared onto the Women’s WorldTour scene as one of the break-out riders of the spring, taking several top-10s at high profile one day races.
Le Court recently backed up those performances with 4th at the Volta Catalunya before flying to Mauritius to take on the national championships this week. She hopes to wear the Mauritian flag at some of the world’s biggest races this year, with a ride at the Tour de France Femmes a very real possibility.
“It’s important to me to come back to Europe with the flag," she told Global Peloton a few weeks ago. “I do know the amount of support I get from the country is a lot and to just make them proud and have the flag there on the WorldTour stage is super important.”
To get access to more articles, stories and analysis, add a paid subscription
Latest paid post:
Other news and stories
Video - Florence Nakagwa training in Uganda while waiting for her visa:
Ashleigh Moolman Pasio holds onto Olympics and Tour de France Femmes hopes after back injury (Cycling News)
UCI World Series – Hans Becking and Maddy Nutt win Kenya's Safari Gravel (Cycling News)
Race Round-up
Kisanet Weldemichael is the new women’s national champion of Eritrea. Natnael Tesfatsion is the men’s champion.
Manuel Rodas won the men’s national time trial championship of Guatemala. Gabriela Soto Lopez won the women’s race.
Costa Rica’s Jason Huertas won stage three of Circuito Montañes in Spain.
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