'It's not about charity' - Former Qhubeka team boss on why his team no longer has African riders

Doug Ryder, the manager of the Q36.5 Pro Cycling, has said that his team does not have any African riders for the first time since 2007 because “it’s not about charity.”

In 2007, Ryder set up the South African-registered MTN Energade Road Team that developed into MTN-Qhubeka, Dimension Data and Qhubeka-NextHash before it folded at the end of 2021 season. During that period, Ryder’s outfit became not only the first African team to appear at but also win stages of the Tour de France.

Ryder’s new venture, the Swiss-registered Q36.5 team, began in 2023, with the same focus on being a home for emerging African talent. But at the end of 2024, they released their only African rider – the Ethiopian Negasi Haylu Abreha – and also shuttered their U23 continental team that housed two other African riders.

In an open letter on the Global Peloton substack in October, the continental team’s manager Kevin Campbell noted how the number of African riders in the men's professional peloton had shrunk from 23 to nine in the past decade, writing that “African cycling has not arrived, it is leaving.”

This comes against the backdrop of African cycling’s highest profile success – Biniam Girmay winning three stages and the green jersey at the Tour de France. In September of this year, Rwanda will become the first African nation to host the UCI road cycling world championships.

Asked if Q36.5 is still Africa’s team, Ryder told assembled press at his team’s annual media day that “we still have Africa’s focus”, pointing out charity work they still carry out with Qhubeka and the World Bicycle Relief Fund. He also highlighted past success by his former riders in inspiring the current generation.

“We had a lot of African riders in our team,” he said. “We’ve opened the door for African cycling. Biniam Girmay was 13 when we took Daniel Teklehaimanot to the Tour de France, a race that opened the door in his eyes to the possibilities of what cycling can do, a sport that he could potentially be successful in. We did a lot in that sense.”

Pressed on why his team no longer has any African riders, he said: “There’s just a lack of quality at the moment, sadly. As you know we’ve got big sponsors behind us and the sport has changed, it’s about business. It’s not about charity.

“At the time we could create massive opportunities for riders just because the sport was different then. If I started an African team today would it be successful? No. Would people care? Would they? It’s about points and it’s about rankings.”

Historically, top-level cycling talent from Africa has come from South Africa, Eritrea and Ethiopia, but there are deep concerns about the long-term health of Ethiopian cycling after a devastating two-year war in Tigray, the country’s cycling heartland, resulted in the loss of more than 600,000 lives.

The closure of the Q36.5 Continental team will, Campbell wrote for Global Peloton, further diminish opportunities for African riders. “We started our African development team, registering as a continental team in 2016 and basing ourselves permanently in Italy. The team’s name changed over the years, as team names do in cycling, but the core aims remained the same: provide opportunities for African riders.

“We soon realised, though, that cycling actually doesn’t care. Yes, some rider stories make for great marketing opportunities, some riders provide great photo opportunities, but the game, the sport, the business of cycling doesn’t care. A rider has to perform!

“Where does the next generation of African riders come from? We know where they are from. The real question is how are they going to get here, to Europe? All they are yearning for is an opportunity. Who is going to provide that opportunity now?”