Ethiopia's Tsige Kahsay Kiros has secured a three-year contract with Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto Generation, the development team signing the 18-year-old after she delivered impressive progress the last 12 months while racing for her domestic Mesfin Cycling Team and also with the UCI’s World Cycling Centre (WCC) 'Africa 2025' rider development programme.
The rising African rider is looking forward to officially joining Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto Generation in just over one month’s time.
“For 2026, I hope I am going to have good races and good times with the team. From now on, I want better results than before. I am going to race with bigger teams, but I hope I can still make results. Thank you so much Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto for giving me this opportunity.”
Kahsay Kiros was represented in this deal by Alex Carera, the agent of her hero Tadej Pogačar and Biniam Girmay.
"I am very proud that Tsige becomes a cycling professional like me," said Girmay. "Our path into professional cycling is very similar as when I arrived in Europe from Eritrea, I also rode for the World Cycling Centre team and lived in Aigle [Switzerland - HQ of the UCI]. I truly wish her the very best for next year, and for her career."
Her progress is mirroring that of Girmay very closely, with both joining the WCC at 18 and both winning the African Continental Championship Junior Road Race the same year. Kahsay Kiros is in fact a year ahead now, in that it took Girmay two years with the WCC to secure his first pro team deal.
Kahsay Kiro became the Ethiopian Women's Junior Champion in June and was racing and training in Brittany over the summer with the WCC. She raced the Tour de l'Avenir in August, an event which highlights the best junior talent.
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Tsige Kahsay Kiro in the yellow shouldered jersey of Ethiopia tucked up near the front of the field at the Junior Women's road race at the 2025 Road World Championships (Image credit: Getty Images)
As she was younger than any other competitor, quite simply the aim was for her to finish some stages and finish the race. The rider herself had other ideas and went on to be top 30 in every stage after the prologue, won the Most Combative prize on Stage 3, finished 22nd in the overall GC and was the only one of the eight 18-year-old competitors to finish within the top 40 on the General Classification.
We next saw her at the UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda in late September in the Women’s Junior Road Race. Commentator Hannah Walker talked excitedly about her as she went on the attack from the start, blowing the peloton apart on the first big climb and finishing seventh overall from among the 77 riders.
UCI President David Lappartient was also quick to congratulate Kahsay Kiros after the finish line, animatedly describing how the performance of the recently discovered rider was a huge moment for the Africa 2025 programme.
She then followed this up with the double at the African Continental Cycling Championships in Kenya last week, winning both the Women's Junior ITT and Road Race champion jerseys.
“She is a very talented African rider," said Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto Generation sports director Gosia Jasinska. "I saw her for the first time at Tour de l’Avenir, where she raced against U23 riders. I remember the second-last stage – she crashed and had to stop, and I was following the Polish national riders in the car.
"Tsige started behind their group, and on the long climb, she caught and then dropped them. She was very impressive in the climbs. That was the moment I thought, ‘wow, she is a very good rider.’ I was very impressed with her.”
My View
Kirsten Frattini
Tsige Kahsay Kiros' talent, strength, and hard work have turned heads at every corner. After being discovered by a cycling mechanic in Mekelle and spending a season abroad with the World Cycling Centre in France, she went on to deliver one of the most significant performances at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to watch from the roadside as she animated the junior women's road race as a major contender for the rainbow jersey, ultimately finishing seventh and the highest-placed rider from an African national team at these Worlds. In my opinion, she has become one of the most exciting riders to watch in pro cycling, not only in 2026 but for many years to come.
Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto Generation have taken eight African riders onto their squad since their inception in 2022, so they have experience in helping riders from the region launch into the highly competitive international cycling scene.
"For sure, she will be one of the strongest climbers in our team, but we must continue to slowly develop her as a rider," said Jasinska. "Helping her with her aspects like her skills on the bike, race tactics, living and racing more often in Europe and even her confidence with English.
"We will learn from each other, and she can be a key part of the team. I think it will be a very big point to work with the girls together.”
