Mismatched kit and visa issues lead to heavy fines and depleted line-ups for Eritrea at World Championships

The UCI Road World Championships were one to forget for Eritrea, who started the elite men's road race with just three of their five named riders and saw two of them, plus a staff member, hit with post-race fines from the UCI.

Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and Natnael Tesfatsion were the two riders who did not start Sunday's race. According to team leader Biniam Girmay, this was due to visa issues, with the pair unable to enter Canada for the Worlds.

"Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and Natnael Tesfatsion, those two strong powerhouses didn't start, because they didn't get the visa," Girmay told Eurosport ahead of Sunday's road race. "So that's the issue."

Both riders were included in Eritrea's initial squad announcement, but only Ghebreigzabhier was included on the official start list, and therefore listed on the results as 'Did Not Start', suggesting there was more hope that he'd make it, and earlier clarity that Tesfatsion would not.

It is unclear what caused the failure to secure a visa. Cyclingnews has reached out to representatives from the Eritrean team and federation, as well as the UCI, for comment.

Visa headaches are a familiar issue for African cyclists and have regularly been cited by experts as a hurdle when it comes to making it to the top level of the sport. Such issues have regularly cropped up at the World Championships, and notably for Eritrea at the 2023 Worlds in the UK, when Girmay and others did not participate after facing visa issues.

In addition to the elite men's road race, only one Eritrean rider – Nahom Efriem – started the U23 road race from the three who were named in the original squad, with Milkias Maekele and Yafiet Mulugeta both absent. The reasons for those absences have not been confirmed. Like Ghebreigzabhier, Maekele was listed as a non-starter.

Kit issues lead to fines

After the elite men's road race, Girmay and Mulubrhan were both hit with fines related to their kit. According to the post-race communiqué from the UCI commissaires, the two riders were deemed to have committed an infringement termed 'Different clothing for the different riders of a team', under Article 2.12.007.3.9 of the UCI rules.

Girmay and Mulubrhan were both fined 500 Swiss Francs. In addition, Eritrea's team director Samsom Ghebreyesus was fined 1000 Swiss Francs.

The communiqué did not state what exactly the problem was. Photos from the race show the riders all wearing slightly different versions of the Eritrean national kit, while all three riders started the race in outer layers supplied by their trade teams.

Girmay was wearing a skinsuit made by Verge, the kit supplier of his former team Intermarché-Wanty, with the red, blue, green, and yellow of Eritrea on the top half and black on the bottom, along with branding of both Eritrea and his trade team, NSN Cycling.

Mulubrhan was wearing Eritrean colours on both his jersey and his shorts, but the uppers of the two riders' kits were not an exact match, with Girmay's arms being predominantly blue with some red, while Mulubrhan's were red and green.

Kudus, meanwhile, the only rider to escape a fine, switched his kit between the pre-race podium ceremony and the start line. On the podium, he wore an Ekoi jersey that matched the upper of Mulubrhan's skinsuit along with black shorts made by RH77, the brand that supplied kit to most of the Eritrean riders last year.

But in the race he was wearing multi-coloured RH77 shorts that look to be the same ones worn by most of the team – with the exception of the skinsuited Girmay – at last year's Worlds.

There is another theory, in that both Girmay and Mulubrhan started the race in gilets from their trade teams, NSN Cycling and XDS-Astana, respectively. In fact, they rode with them into the breakaway and only took them off 25km or so in.

However, Kudus – who was not fined – also started the race in a trade team layer, wearing a Burgos-Burpellet-BH long-sleeve jacket, although this was a more neutral black.

The UCI has not responded to a request for clarification on the matter.

The UCI rules aren't totally clear on wearing trade team clothing at the World Championships, but the rule surrounding 'different clothing' specifically notes three items: 'jersey, shorts, rain jacket'. That's why many riders wear accessories such as socks and arm warmers from their trade teams. A gilet is something of a grey area given it's not really a jersey or a rain jacket.

Jackets, meanwhile, have caused trouble in previous Worlds, given that not all federations have a full range of layers for teams that race in national colours only a few times a year, and given that manufacturers have limited colourway possibilities with waterproof garments.

It's also worth pointing out that some nations' federations are better funded than others, with riders from bigger cycling nations such as Belgium all kitted out in bespoke national gilets, whereas this option isn't always available to riders from other nations.