Wow! While the Tour du Faso is underway, the dean (37th edition) of African cycling races, the scoop offered by the usually well-informed africarising website concerns the 2027 calendar. Indeed, a surprising and healthy advance is being announced in terms of new events, both men's and women's, within the UCI Africa Tour, ready to grow from 16 to 26 and thus offer a major proposition.

The Kigali 2025 effect, since the lasting legacy of a world championship event is most evident precisely in Rwanda, where a one-day race will make its debut (Kigalian Classic, 1.1) right at the end of the Tour du Rwanda, now established as the main continental appointment (we add with a format that allows hosting the best World Tour development teams, while guaranteeing the presence of African continental and national teams, first and foremost the powerhouse Eritrea).

In the Land of a Thousand Hills, the other major novelty is represented by the Isonga Junior Men Tour, included in the Junior Nations Cup (girls and boys, May 14-16), with all the prestige that comes with it. That's not all: at the end of September comes the Tour du Rwanda women's edition, followed by a one-day race, an extension of women's racing that becomes even more promising when Team Amani welcomes Ashleigh Moolman Pasio as General Manager.

With a certain Kim Le Court as the beacon of the movement, in Mauritius they will therefore launch next June a stage race for women (with a men's one-day appendix).

Returning to the Tour du Faso, the flat stages that follow showcase the superiority of Algerian cyclists, particularly sprinter Yacine Hamza (3 victories) and with him Anes Riahi. One might say these are names of second-tier status on the world stage, many of them would seem destined to remain in this category, yet the ferment coming from Burkina traces a route: from the Capital Ouagadougou, the President, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, has decided to triple the prize money, up to a total of 82 thousand euros, of which 7 thousand to the winner (will it still be the local hero Paul Daumont?).

Then, to understand what is happening, it is useful to look at the recent African championships held for the third consecutive year in Kenya. Lagging behind in terms of UCI races hosted (unless we're talking about Cape Epic), South Africa has launched Lisa Bone, a 27-year-old who, through the time trial title and second place in the road race, has laid the groundwork for her move to the World Tour with EF Education – Oatly. Not negligible is the emergence of new nations in African hierarchies, just consider the second place, also in the Kenyan Kisumu, of Moroccan Driss El Alouni, silver among the Elite. Who reaches for the stars is then Senegalese Neriah Meunier Sow, for whom participation in the Tour de l'Avenir wearing the World Cycling Center jersey, and fifth place at the African road championships, rewards, with the move to Team Bike Aid of the promising 21-year-old, the action of the UCI-linked structure.

A clear strategy that of the center headquartered in Paarl, South Africa, also translated into a camp at 2000 meters in Eldoret, an altitude training base previously known especially to runners. But things are changing and rapidly: a development program promoted by the IOC aimed at young athletes has allowed, for example, South African Madison Bateson to become African junior champion, making the most of those high-altitude pedal strokes. At the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, for the first time on African soil, the task is to consolidate even further the growth trajectory. A sporting bridge between Continent and the entire World: a unique celebration.