UCI
“Cycling is developing at a fast pace in Africa, and especially in Algeria and Morocco. I’m delighted to see this evolution taking place. All this helps to make our sport even stronger and more universal.” Mr. Pat McQuaid, the President of the International Cycling Union, was full of praise at the end of his field visit to Northern Africa at the end of last week.
First in Algeria, on Thursday, the UCI President met the new management team from the Algerian Cycling Federation (ACF), including the President, Mr. Richard Fezouine. This visit was eagerly anticipated by the Algerian media, as it highlights the support of UCI for a federation which has recently officially returned to the great family that is cycling. Over the course of the meetings, Mr. McQuaid was made aware in detail of the exemplary progress achieved by the ACF, in particular regarding the organisation of the Tour of Algeria and the training of its young, talented cyclists.
The Algerian Minister of Youth and Sport, Mr. Hachemi Djiar, took part personally in the discussions on the future of cycling in his country. He spoke with Mr McQuaid about a project for a UCI Mountain Bike event in 2013 in the southern deserts. The government official has also agreed in principle to the building of a covered velodrome in Algiers. This facility would be a particularly efficient asset and, for the time being, a unique venue in Northern Africa.
On Friday and Saturday, Mr. McQuaid continued his visit in Morocco. He thus was able to watch two stages of the Tour of Morocco, which are on the UCI calendar under category 2.2. The first one was between Marrakech and El Jadida, and then El Jadida and Casablanca; he stressed that “the quality of the level of organisation had greatly improved over the last years.”
During his meeting with the President of the Royal Moroccan Cycling Federation, Mr. Mohamed Belmahi, the UCI President noted the good shape of the country’s athletes. They are top in the rankings by country of the UCI Africa Tour 2011-2012 and they qualified three times for the Road events of the London Olympic Games.
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