The Kenyans Are Coming, The Kenyans Are Coming

It was a story that was buried on Cyclingnews, but anyone who read it and watched the Beijing Olympic Games could see the future potential of a world wide peloton; a peloton that is dominated not by those of European blood but by African.

Kenya has long been known as a country of great runners. Their foot speed and natural endurance often go unmatched. In the recent Olympic Games, their men and women won gold or medaled in distances from 800m to the marathon.

The winner of the men's marathon, Samuel Wanjiru, won the event in a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 32 seconds. His pace was a blistering 4 minutes, 49 seconds per mile.

Recently, with the support of Nicholas Leong, two black African riders from Kenya went to the Alpine region of Isère, France to test their climbing skills on the epic mountain of L'Alpe d'Huez.

In their first attempt on August 7th, Zakayo Nderi and Samwel Mwangi clocked an impressive 43'35 and 44'45 minutes respectively.

"In the 2004 Tour de France's individual time trial up the famous mountain, Lance Armstrong clocked 39'41 minutes, with the tenth-placed rider that day being 2008 Tour winner Carlos Sastre at 42'08 minutes."

Leong firmly believes that "with the right support, an East African can become a world class climbing specialist. Nderi and Mwangi have the heart, lungs and legs of marathoners, but all they want to be are the first black African professional cyclists in the world."


A movie is being made about Nderi's and Mwangi's cycling trials. And with a little help, they may just be the first black African cyclist to make it into the professional cycling ranks and better yet, the historic pavers of a future cycling legacy.

To read more about their journey, visit www.theafricancyclist.com.

Photo: AP (top)