If professional cycling is to grow, it needs to reach beyond its traditional white, male, middle-aged audiences. That’s the view of UCI president David Lappartient, shared with The Cycling Show this week. Lappartient believes that to find new audiences, it needs to offer new role models, from beyond the heartlands of Western Europe.
Ad/> Biniam Girmay’s victory in Gent-Wevelgem marked a giant leap towards that goal. Cycling'Is cycling a racist sport? I would say it is, yes'31/03/2022 AT 08:10 “It was wonderful,” Lappartient says. Participation is no longer sufficient.
Though, as Lappartient says, “we were happy when some years ago we had the first Africans taking part in Paris-Roubaix, the Tour de France, to wear the maillot a pois [polka dot jersey], and so on. Now it’s not about taking part, it’s about winning races. And not about winning small races, winning Monuments of cycling in the WorldTour.” When Girmay beat Christophe Laporte to the line in Wevelgem, it was the highest-ranked race ever won by a black rider from the oldest continent.
For Lappartient it also represented a particular professional achievement. “He was a student in the World Cycling Centre [in Aigle, Switzerland] for two years, so this is a big achievement for the UCI.” It is not lost on Lappartient that Girmay’s rise to the top of the sport rather reduces the odds on an African wearing the rainbow bands on the podium in Rwanda, which is set to host the 2025 Road World Championships. “You can imagine if we have an African world champion, in the elite category, in Kigali.
That could be just amazing,” he says. Expanding cycling is not just about race, and nor is Lappartient only concerned with the road. He is particularly pleased with the progress the
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