This is really racing by the book. The Moroccans, used to dominating cycling on their continent, found themselves suddenly outmatched by the Eritreans in November, in the African Championships and the Tour of Rwanda. They learned from this reversal, and last month they answered their rivals’ fire and form with the hard science of persistence. The Eritreans ended up being ousted as leaders of the UCI Africa Tour. With 505.64 points they came second in the rankings by nation, behind Morocco (715 points) and ahead of South Africa (445.32 points).

The turnaround came at the end of March and the beginning of April, in the Tour of Morocco. Mouhcine Lahsaini, a seasoned rider, won the event, the first Moroccan rider to do so for 46 years. Lahsaini laid the foundations for his win two days before the end, after launching a breakaway on the road to Meknès. He shot from 15th in the UCI Africa Tour individual rankings to 3rd. The top two places remain unchanged, occupied by Eritrea’s Daniel Teklehaymanot, multiple African Champion, and Adil Jelloul, a teammate of Lahsaini.

Jelloul is just 1.66 points away from taking the lead. His supporters believe he would already be in front if he had not launched an attack some way from the finish, without support, in the Challenge Benguérir, the third of the Challenges Phosphatiers, no doubt still riding high on his previous day’s success in the Youssoufia Challenge. But 29-year-old Jelloul knows it will be his turn soon.

“You must have hope, patience and self-confidence to succeed,” summed up Mohamed Belmahi, President of the Royal Moroccan Cycling Federation. Morocco’s new-found dominance and their historic performance in the Tour of Morocco are a tribute to a country that has invested a great deal in cycling, even opening a sports study department for young riders in Casablanca.

In the UCI Africa Tour team rankings, MTN Qhubeka remains the continent’s top team, with 231.66 points, ahead of Team Bonitas (128.32 points) and the Groupement Sportif Pétrolier Algérie (102.66 points).

African riders competing in the UCI Africa Tour now have no hesitation in riding in Europe, which shows that the standard of events in the UCI Africa Tour is rapidly approaching that of European races. The talented young African riders also caused a stir in the UCI Under-23 Nations Cup events in Europe.  Algerian sprinter Youcef Reguigui, 21, came second in the first stage of Toscana-Terra di Ciclismo and third in the very fast ZLM Tour in the Netherlands. 20-year-old Tsgabu Grmay of Ethiopia came 16th in the ZLM Tour, but was crowned the best young rider in Tuscany and came 3rd in the Montecatini stage. He lost 45 seconds in a fall on the first day, exactly the distance that separated him from the eventual winner. “Tsgabu is definitely a rider for the major tours, and his ultimate aim is the Tour de l’Avenir,” explained Jean-Pierre Van Zyl, Director of the UCI Continental Centre in South Africa, who is currently helping out at the UCI World Cycling Centre in Aigle.

Pierre Carrey