UCI Africa Tour — Mid-year Review: Who are the movers and shakers?

Back in April, Cycling Culture Club asked me to produce a report on the Africa Tour rankings for 2026 at the time (you can see this here) and as over a dozen African nations have now had their National Championships, as well as Africa Tour races like the Tours of Algeria, Mauritius, Benin and Cameroon have taken place, the current UCI rankings as of 1 July are in good shape to give an idea of who is doing well.

On 4 July, we will also see Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) take to the start-line of the 2026 Tour de France, and he has had a great preparation period so hopes of seeing him win a stage are high. Check out my interview with him for BBC Sport before the race.

The team at Africa Rising Cycling were hoping to see one or two of the other World Tour level Eritreans, or South Africa’s Alan Hatherly get the TDF call, but sadly Bini will be the sole African in Le Grand Boucle.

Africa Tour — The Men

On the men’s side, Biniam remains as Africa’s #1 rider, with Natnael Tesfatsion (Movistar) sitting strongly in second place. The key change in the rankings from my previous report is the jump of Henok Mulubrhan from eight to third place. This is due to some strong performances at the Baku to Khankendi Cycling Race in Azerbaijan, where he was narrowly pipped for the GC win on the last stage.

The rising talent from Mauritius Alexandre Mayer (Burgos Burpellet BH) also jumps into the top ten, sitting nicely in fifth place now as we head into the summer months.

The South African duo of Stefan de Bod and Byron Munton (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling) have had an exceptional year, amassing over 500 points between them already, and they have a new racing block coming up to try and add to this total. Their team seems to be growing from strength to strength, and we hope to see these two at even higher-level races as Modern Adventure targets potentially Grand Tour starts in 2027.

You can see the full UCI Africa Tour men’s ranking here. Outside the top ten, the one rider to highlight is Mauritian Aurelien de Comarmond (Joyrun & Hurricane Cycling Team) who has jumped 48 spots to number 13 after his efforts at the Mauritius National Championships and the Tour of Mauritius.

As mentioned in the previous story, there are seven African registered UCI Continental teams in 2026. Algeria’s Madar Pro Cycling — the top ranked team in 2025 — are once again leading the way, with a sizeable 1039 points so far this season. For an African team, this is a huge points tally, potentially the largest to date, and it puts them as the #35 team in the world at this point. Truly exceptional! In second place is Rwandan-registered Team Amani, with 629 points, a solid number, and potentially will grow with some Rwanda points in limbo due to errors domestically in registering their National Championships with the UCI.

In third place is the new Tshenolo team from South Africa with 211 points. A new team on the continent, and they are struggling with race invitations on the continent, with several Africa Tour nations reticent to invite UCI Continental teams as they try to engineer local winners to keep sponsors happy. It is a tricky line to walk and sadly Tshenolo are suffering from it. A tour in Asia is due later this summer so we will keep an eye on them there.

Africa Tour — The Women

The big news so far this year is the broken wrist of Kim Le Court (AG Insurance — Soudal). It has taken her out of racing for three months now, but she returned to racing a few weeks ago and had some strong results at the Tour du Suisse Women, coming in fourth in the GC. Winning both the Mauritian ITT and Road Races also bumped her tally by 125 points and she leads the Africa Tour women’s table, sitting #40 in the world. All eyes are on her for the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in August.

Although in her final year as a professional, South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio has been racking up points in 2026 and a healthy total of 800 points has her at #2 in Africa and #62 in the world. Her fellow South African Hayley Preen sits in third spot, with 280 points.

Lucie Mayer (World Cycling Centre) jumps several places up into fourth spot after her double silver medals in the Mauritian National Championships. Rounding out the top five is Birikti Fessehaye (Eritrea) whose performance at the African Conti Champs at the start of the season keeps her in the top rankings.

The other main topic to mention on the African women’s side is the recent European tour of the Team Amani Women’s team, an Ethiopia-registered Continental team — the only women’s pro team registered in Africa.

They raced a packed schedule across France and Spain over the past few months, and gained valuable experience, and the inevitable broken bones and road rash of racing in the hardcore pelotons of Europe. The stand-out result of the tour was 20th place on GC for 27-year-old Ethiopian Haftu Eyerusalem Reda at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina, a UCI 2.1 three-stage race in Spain. Eyerusalem also took second place in both the Ethiopian Women’s Elite Road Race and ITT.

Although still only 19-years-old, the winner of the Ethiopian Women’s Elite ITT, and third place in the Elite Road Race, was Tsige Kahsay Kiros (CANYON/SRAM Generation) who should be mentioned in this review as her points in these events jumped her 1,319 places in women’s cycling and put her on the board, sitting in #19 in the women’s Africa Tour. We expect her rise to continue!

Tsige recently headlined a story I wrote for Rouleur Magazine, “The next young riders chasing the wheels of giants”, highlighting the top ten #nextgen African riders — those riders who are 23 years old or under, and who have the potential to get to the Women’s World Tour in the coming years.

The next update will be in September after another few months of racing!

Words: Jeremy Ford, Team Africa Rising