Pedalling hard to realise the African dream – Team Amani's two-year plan for a Tour de France Femmes start

As Haftu Eyerusalem Reda crosses the finish line on Plaza España in Barcelona at the end of the 111km stage, sports director Tsgabu Grmay lets out a big cheer and fist-pumps the air.

The Ethiopian finished the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya Femenina in 23rd place in the bunch sprint won by Marianne Vos.

There would be no leader’s jersey, bonus points, or extra cash prize available to Eyeru -as she is known by teammates and fans - for this result. However, the Team Amani rider finished alongside top-ranking riders such as Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) and ahead of Silke Smulders (LIV AlUla Jayco), earning her a 20th-place finish in the general classification.

So there was every reason for Team Amani's management to celebrate. It had been a tricky week. Despite starting the race with six riders, a combination of crashes and missed time cuts had disappointingly reduced the team to one rider by the final stage. So Eyeru finishing in the top 20 felt like more than a silver lining for the team. This felt like a win – the culmination of Team Amani’s European campaign for the first half of 2026.

A delighted Grmay said: "At European races the level is so high, and there are no races in, for example, Asia, where riders can prepare for European racing. So going straight from Africa to Europe is a big jump, and we were so surprised that they finished in the top half of the results. The girls are very motivated, and it was so impressive that they have been getting results. They have so much potential."

This inaugural year for the team, which was launched in the Autumn of 2025, marks the start of a road map to their big goal – a spot on the start list in one of the UCI Women’s Grand Tours in 2027, and the opportunity to compete in the 2028 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

This will be a mighty challenge, with a team consisting of young African riders from mainly East African countries. They all have different stories. Mary Aleper, a Ugandan, was orphaned at a young age; Eyeru from the Tigray region of Ethiopia was caught up in the civil war; and Rwandan Xaverine Nirere, whose country has steadily been in a renaissance following the 1994 genocide.

Racing began in France with La Classique Morbihan in May, followed by races in Spain – the Navarra Elite Classic and Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria. Team Amani returned to France to race in Brittany, the Alps and the Pyrenees before returning to their European base in Girona for the Volta a Catalunya Femenina. Other noteworthy results for the team include a solid finish at the Tour of the Pyrenees, again by Eyeru, as well as a top-half finish in the rankings for Meresiet Ashebir Gebrehiwet in the Alpes Gresivaudan Classic. Although these are not Women’s WorldTour races, they are nonetheless popular events with WorldTour teams on the start line.

So for Eyeru, starting racing on the European scene was a real baptism of fire.

The 27-year-old said: "I had never imagined that I would race in Europe alongside the best riders in the world. Being at the front of the peloton, handling the descents and technical sections was hard in our first races in Europe, but with the support of Tsgabu [Grmay] and Ashleigh [Moolman-Pasio] we learned about technique and cornering. I then also improved from race to race."

Unlike men’s professional racing, where riders can evolve by racing in their own country and in smaller countries before racing in Europe, women don’t have that opportunity. Women’s UCI races tend to take place in the larger nations where riders will immediately be pitted against opponents, often from Women’s WorldTour teams, with extensive experience. While the women from Team Amani will have raced in stage races across Africa, once they find themselves racing in Europe, they are immediately exposed to the cut-and-thrust of European racing – a daunting, even intimidating, prospect for riders.

Aleper, along with her orphaned siblings, grew up in a charitable organisation in Uganda. The children were encouraged to do sport, but when Covid struck, cycling was the only sport they could do. She took up riding after seeing her brother excel at it, and she was helped by local athletes who gave her a training programme to follow. She juggled 4am starts for training with going to school and trying to do well academically. Despite the long, tiring days, the then 17-year-old was determined to pursue her dream of racing. She recalls her first race in Europe.

"My very first race in Europe was the World Gravel Championships in Italy. There were so many riders, and I didn’t know any of their names. I was excited, but nervous and thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ Once I started, I thought to myself that I have to finish the race. When I crossed the finish line, I was so happy. Then I did my first European road race in Morbihan this year."

"That was fast, and I was so scared. It was the first road race where I saw so many women in one race. The peloton was so big that I just stayed at the back because I was scared there could be a crash. I thought that being at the back was the safest place to stay. A group of us were dropped, but we were allowed to complete the race, and I was so happy that I finished."

Given that these women were in the deep end racing at this level, Grmay, who raced for Jayco AlUla before retiring in 2023, was not going to make any demands on them to reach a specific result. Instead, the focus would be on gaining experience and learning how racing works in Europe.

So when Eyeru took 20th place in the GC at the 2.1 Category Volta a Catalunya Femenina, the team got more than Tsgabu could have dreamed of. He was delighted.

Grmay said: "We know what a European peloton looks like and the mindset needed, so we are really working on that and helping them with the psychology of racing. We have to make them feel that they are strong and they have talent, but it has to be step by step because there are a lot of mistakes and a lot of things to sort out. We won’t rush because we are aware of where they have come from. This year is about them learning how racing is in Europe. So when we had riders finishing in the top half of the results or in the top 40, with pros, we were so impressed. The girls are very motivated, and there is so much potential.”

As well as road racing, some of the riders take part in gravel racing to balance tight elbow-to-elbow road racing with a racing style that is less intimidating.

Aleper finished fifth at a World Series Gravel race last year when racing for the team’s Black Mamba Development Squad, and she also competed in the Traka 200 in Spain in May.

After a bumper 2025, which saw the Ugandan win the Tour de Lunsar, be crowned national road race and national time trial champion, and compete in the World Road Championships in Rwanda, Aleper was ready to take the next step to the old continent and joined Team Amani following a recommendation from a fellow aspiring rider, Nancy Debe from Kenya.

Nirere, who was also inspired by her brother, pressed on with racing despite the negativity from others in the village. There was a culture across East Africa in which women taking part in bike racing was frowned upon. People said it would cause them to lose their virginity early, and in any case, women should stay at home and look after the home.

Luckily, her family was supportive, and Nirere made history in 2025 by being the first rider to set off in the opening time trial of the 2025 World Road Cycling Championships in Rwanda – the first time the competition was taking place in Africa.

The 24-year-old from Rwamagana recalls a memorable day: "At the World Championships there were many spectators who had come to see us, so it was very important for me to represent well [both] Africa and Team Amani. It was my first time on a time trial bike, and I was racing in front of my family and friends, so I just did my best and used my best power. I was so happy that I had finished in the top 20, and I said to myself, ‘Next year I will prepare even better to get a better result.’ I didn’t know that this was being shown on television and it was only after I finished when I began to receive so many messages from people about it, and that’s when I realised that I had been on television around the world! I was so happy!"

This year, Nirere has been focused on the team’s European campaign, and in some races was the protected rider.

She adds: "I have gained experience racing with pro riders while racing in Europe for the first time. In my first two races I was very scared. There were a lot of crashes, and I rode at the back because I was afraid of crashing. But after two races I was able to start riding in the middle of the peloton, and if a rider was trying to push me away, I tried to push back. I was also able to speak to my teammates in the peloton and give them instructions if I needed food or water, or if I had a puncture.

"I was so excited, and I even felt great to finish with the strongest riders. And it was so exciting because our coach had believed in us, and the team was speaking to us every day, saying that we have this potential to do it. We needed to keep this in our mind and believe in ourselves, and believe that we had the energy and drive to finish any race."

Formed in 2020 by the late Sule Kangangi, a Kenyan cyclist, and Mikel Delagrange, an American lawyer, Team Amani (Amani, meaning peace in Swahili) consists of riders from across Central and East Africa. It aims to put African cycling on the map and allow more African riders to showcase their talent on the world stage. Using the mantra, 'Talent is universal. Opportunity is not', the outfit aims to rebalance the make-up of the global cycling landscape so that there is a fair representation of African riders in the professional peloton. Autumn 2025 was a landmark moment when Team Amani launched the women’s UCI Continental team. With its goal of competing at the highest level in Europe, the team wants to inspire women across the continent into cycling, and open up top-level cycling to new styles and cultures in elite competitions.

In Grmay’s words: "We speak our language, we know our culture, and that’s what we want to bring to cycling as well as the racing. That’s how we give the connection between the outside and the African culture. We try to give the African feeling in the designs of our cycling kit, which represents different African countries."

New, young arrivals to the squad generally ride for the Black Mamba Development Team and develop their craft there, while the top riders such as Eyeru, Aleper and Nirere compete in the Continental Team.

These three athletes hail respectively from Ethiopia, Uganda, and Rwanda. There are also riders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. All of them are housed at the team base at Iten, nestled in the high-altitude region of Western Kenya, where they have access to training facilities and are in close proximity to hills for training rides.

With riders from various African countries, unity and peace are the buzz words, and the women are appreciative of the harmony that exists between them especially as they are far from their families.

In Eyerusalem’s case she has to leave her 4-year old son with her family while she trains and races, but recognises it as one of the challenges and sacrifices in order to fulfil her dream of racing at the highest level in the world.

"I have a family who takes care of my son, but it is still very hard to stay away from him for four months. Even when I am around, I don't get to spend as much time with him because of training. That is the toughest sacrifice I have made for my cycling career."

However, living with her fellow teammates feels like being in a second family and is very comfortable in her environment.

"The team accepted us for who we are. We had initial challenges with language skills, but now I am so happy to be here," says Eyeru.

For Nirere, it is like having more sisters.

"There’s a good atmosphere, though we have to learn about our different cultures – for example, how things are in Ethiopia or Uganda. I have stayed with the girls most of the time, and so they are now like my sisters. When I am with them, I feel like I am safe and still at home. So although I miss my relatives, with this group I still feel like I am at home because we are very close. We are one family, all with one goal, so for everyone in the team our mindset is the same."

Returning to the team’s goals, things have been looking positive. As well as Eyeru’s result at the Volta a Catalunya, there have been podium finishes at the national championship races, and at the recent Tour du Burundi the team dominated. Eyeru claimed back-to-back stage victories, while her Ethiopian compatriot Meresiet Ashebir Gebrehiwet sealed the overall victory on GC. Rwandan Claudette Nyirarukundo completed the podium, and Eyeru finished in fourth place overall.

Ashebir Gebrehiwet’s victory signalled the end of an injury-stricken few months after crashing out of the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya. This turnaround in fortunes left the 27-year old delighted.

"I can't express my feelings, it's too much. This means so much," she said. "Racing in Europe earlier this year was good, but after I crashed, I was forced to miss some races. Now I am coming back, and winning this race feels so good."

The team now has a number of races to look forward to in Europe in this second part of the season, including the Mirabelle Classic in France, and a series of races in Italy (Giro dell’Emilia, Tre Valli Varesine, and Veneto Classic) where Ashebir Gebrehiwet will be motivated to do well with her team. She continued: “We will still progress a lot and become better in time, and thank everyone supporting us. I want to encourage people to follow our journey as we will improve from race to race towards our goals."

At times racing is dependent on migration procedures, which can sometimes be convoluted when travelling from Africa to Europe. Matters were not helped earlier this year when Nirere’s passport was stolen, and Nyirarukundo’s visa application was rejected. So being able to still race competitively in Africa is important for aspirational African riders.

In order to continue its pursuit of the medium- and long-term goals, the team requires significant resources, just as is the case for any professional cycle racing team. Sadly, this exists in short supply within Team Amani.

A women’s Continental team requires a budget of at least one million euros, and Team Amani’s budget does not reach that far. With no headline sponsor, it is a significant challenge keeping the show on the road.

This could be a limiting factor in the team’s quest for further success at the races. Given the numbers that the women have produced, and the results the team has had so far at the European races, there is a lot of potential to exceed their current performances – if the team had the resources.

"We hardly have anything. Even for some of the races we don’t have soigneurs. We can’t afford it because it’s €200 a day. We don’t even have a campervan. We show up in small cars and a small van. The riders get changed and stretch in there, and there is no toilet or showers. We just do our best with the budget we have. So if someone who believes in this project invests more in us, we could make more facilities available to our riders. For example, a big bus, physios, a skills coach, mind-set coach, nutritionist, doctors, regular soigneurs – things that a lot of teams already have. At the moment, we don’t have any of this in our team," explains Grmay.

Team Amani have managed to race thanks to support from their partners – Factor Bikes, Rapha, SRAM, and POC.

"All of them are investing in us, but we don’t have a main sponsor, so we have to be smart and squeeze as much money as we can into the riders. So we still have a long way to go, but I think better performances will come when we have more facilities and staff. It would be lovely to have a big bus with physios, a nutritionist and six or seven soigneurs."

As well as the services of sports Tsgabu Grmay, his brother Kidus Gebremariam, Owen Searle, Clint Hendricks, and Thorwald Veneberg, the women have also been mentored by Girona-based South African Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, a highly experienced and well-respected racer in the peloton. In fact, the AG Insurance-Soudal racer is due to become the team's General Manager in 2027. Announcing it on her social media earlier this month, Moolman-Pasio is excited to help create opportunities for the next generation of African cyclists. Eyeru was particularly appreciative of the coaching she received from Moolman-Pasio, whom she regards as an inspiration, for the Volta a Catalunya Femenina.

Other racers want to emulate fellow African racer Kim Le Court-Pienaar, who has proven a revelation over the last couple of seasons, as well as World Champion Marianne Vos and European Champion Demi Vollering, the latter of whom sent a video message wishing the team all the best.

Although Nirere's time at the Volta a Catalunya Femenina ended prematurely due to a crash, she was appreciative of the welcome she received and tips given by Women’s WorldTour riders, notably the eventual winner, Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ).

While Team Amani aren't yet confirmed for a Women’s WorldTour race to date, they remain hopeful that their hard work and determination will reward them with more support and resources so that they can realise their African dream.

In the words of Eyeru, "I want to say to other African riders if you have the interest and the dream to win, you can achieve it. It's only about working hard and being strong mentally."