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Hello and welcome back to Global Peloton’s free bi-weekly newsletter!
I just want to start off this newsletter by saying a big thank you for the support over the last couple of months since Global Peloton’s move over to Escape Collective. This new platform is enabling me to go deeper in my coverage of the global sport of professional cycling and I hope you are enjoying it. As ever, if you have any feedback or thoughts, I’d love to hear from you.
In the newsletter today, news on the UCI’s new plans to internationalise the sport as the World Cycling Centre embarks on a new three year project, a report from the fascinating Tour of Hainan and much more.
Enjoy the newsletter,
Dan
Recent posts:
- UCI launches new strategy to further internationalise pro cycling
- Chasing UCI points in the heat: The Tour of Hainan highlights China’s growing scene
Cycling’s world governing body, the UCI, wants to see road cycling further its global reaches, opening up new markets and creating opportunities for cyclists from around the world to succeed at the highest levels. Cycling’s globalisation is the central component of the UCI’s Agenda 2030 - it’s overall strategic plan.
Now, the UCI World Cycling Centre has launched a strategy to accelerate that globalisation over the next two years. ‘Global 2028’ is a project that will see riders from Africa, Asia, Central America and South America take part in several training camps in Brittany, France, with an aim to give them a platform to become professionals. 12 riders at a time, with an even split of men and women, will head to northern France for three months, twice a year.
“The ultimate goal is basically having them come through our programme and then move upward, move upward up the pathway,” Jacques Landry, World Cycling Centre director told me in a piece for Escape Collective. "[We are working to] identify athletes, develop them and put them on teams elsewhere and then we can pick up other ones afterwards.”
The WCC has a long history of developing riders from emerging nations, initially seeding the swell of African riders in the WorldTour over the last 15 years by giving opportunities to the likes of Tsgabu Grmay and Natnael Berhane, before welcoming Biniam Girmay as a junior and enabling him to go on to make history as Africa’s first winner of a Tour de France classification. A number of individual riders from South America and Asia also came through the system in the recent past.
The first Global 2028 training camp began in the last few days. The UCI hasn’t revealed who is part of the first camp, but from a quick sweep of social media, it’s clear that Ugandan Nantume Miria is in this first group alongside talented Ecuadorian rider Natalie Revelo.
You can read my full interview with WCC Director Jacques Landry here
The Tour of Hainan, one of Asia’s biggest and longest-running stage races, concluded last Sunday, with Uruguayan puncheur Thomas Silva taking the biggest win of his young career for XDS-Astana.
The 24-year-old won both of the race’s hilly stages on days two and four, claiming victory in the overall by ten seconds over Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Xabier Berasategi and Thomas Pesenti of Polti-VisitMalta.
As one of several .PRO-level races in Asia - the second-highest classification the UCI awards to races behind only the WorldTour - the Tour of Hainan has grown in stature over recent years as teams seek those all important UCI points. Two WorldTeams were in attendance alongside eight ProTeams, making the 2026 edition by far the race’s best-ever in terms of quality.
“Today’s success is, first of all, the result of the whole team’s work,” Silva said after clinching the overall lead on the penultimate stage. He dedicated the win to his team as well as his countrymen back home. "Even though it is late-night in Uruguay, I know people are watching the race and supporting me," he said.
The Uruguayan is a rider on the rise after a strong performance at the Volta a Catalunya in March he is pencilled in for a debut at the Giro d’Italia next month.
The Tour of Türkiye kicked off on Sunday and features plenty of international talent. The first two of eight stages were won by young Belgian sprinter Tom Crabbe of Team Flanders-Baloise and he leads the race. Türkiye’s best young talent, Ramazan Ylimaz, was 4th on stage one and Mexican sprinter Cesar Macias (a recent Global Peloton interview) was 3rd on the stage two.
The Tour d’Algerie was won by 19-year-old Indonesian rider Dimas Nur Fadhil Rizqi, riding for Jakarta Pro Cycling Team. Rwanda’s Vainqueur Masengesho was second and Ukrainian Antolii Budiak finished third. There were also stage wins for Yacine Hamza, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Bizay Tesfu Redae.
Mexican climber Edgar Cadena opened up his account for the 2026 season against WorldTour opposition as he took two stages of the Vuelta a Asturias for German continental squad Storck - MRW Bau.
In Uzbekistan, the inaugural edition of the Grand Prix Fergana was won by home rider Nikita Tsvetkov. The 21-year-old signed his first pro contract this year with Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber, but was riding for the national team (he’s currently sitting 13th overall at the Tour of Türkiye).
There was also a women’s GP Fergana, won by Asian champion Hao Zhang, riding for new continental team XDS China. UAE Development team rider Rinata Sultanova won the second stage, riding for the Kazakh national team.
One of West Africa’s biggest bike races, the Tour du Benin, began on Monday with a 4.8km prologue. The opener was won by German Oscar Schempp of Bike Aid.
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