Peerless Eritrea extend hot streak in Africa Cycling Championships

Eritrea dominated proceedings on the third day of the African Continental Road Cycling Championships Junior Road Races, winning both the men’s and women’s races to extend its golden week. 

While ten countries tussled for top honors in the women’s race, the Eritreans dictated the pace for much of the day, with all four of their representatives sharing the workload at the front of the race.

The tiny East African nation planned to capitalize on their strength in numbers to make the race difficult up the climb as they left town. Despite several attacks, none stuck. 

Perhaps the best attempt was one with a couple of laps to go when Ugandan Nakato Kevin joined two Eritreans. However, they, too, were brought back as the South Africans and Ethiopians formed the chasing pack.

Six trips up the climb weren’t enough to shake off the likes of South Africa’s Silke Bester, Uganda’s Nantume Miria, and Congo’s Muntumba Martiny.

The group stayed largely intact coming into the final kilometer, where a fierce dash ensued, led by the powerful  Nardos Tsegay of Eritrea, who became the 2024  African Junior Road Champion. 

“Plan A was to sprint up the hill so that we gain some distance coming into the finish”, Tsegay revealed in a post-race interview.

The men’s road race started at midday in the souring heat, but 99km of racing was ahead of the under-18s.

Matthew Symm of South Africa made an audacious move early on in the race and formed a break with three Eritreans — Effriem Nahom, Siem Eyob, and Keven Teklemariam.

The East Africans attacked and counter-attacked until Symm pulled the plug to work from behind in the peloton with his teammates.

The gap at its highest point was over two and a quarter minutes, but the South Africans managed to bring it down to one and a half minutes.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and the Eritreans came into the last 10km with a comfortable advantage to battle it out.

Keven Teklemariam did the job over his teammates in the sprint finish and was crowned the African champion in an Eritrean 1-2-3 to cap another golden day for the country.

Eritrea has dominated the racing in the junior category this week, a feat that their senior counterparts will eye to replicate match over the weekend.

Catch us on Saturday at noon for the women’s U23 and Elite Road Race, which we’ll be live on Citizen TV, from Eldoret to Iten.