Eritrean Rider Merhawi Kudus |
Dimension Data's Merhawi Kudus loves nothing more than riding his bike, and now his trying to turn his ample talent into race results
Eritrean
Merhawi Kudus sticks out, and rightfully so. The 23-year-old recently logged
second place on a Valenciana mountain stage behind Nairo Quintana and battled with
Fabio Aru, Rui Costa and Romain Bardet in the Tour of Oman. They are some of
the best performances ever by a black professional cyclist.
Kudus
comes from one of Africa’s poorest countries, with Eritrea reporting a GDP per capital of $754.90. Yet with his long, skinny toothpick-like limbs he will be
riding with Quintana, Bardet, Aru and Alberto Contador – all from cycling-rich
first-world countries – in the Abu Dhabi Tour. And this is expected to be the
start of Kudus’s winning season.
“I
can’t explain it,” he tells Cycling Weekly of his motivation. “It’s not about a
contract or winning. It’s my habit, it doesn’t matter the race.
“When I
jump on the bike to ride, I really enjoy it. Since I was a kid, I was really
dreaming to be professional racing in Europe. I have it now. Now, I am dreaming
of being a Grand Tour stage winner or taking another big win. That’s my dream.”
He is
one of only a handful black African professionals. He and fellow Eritrean
Daniel Teklehaimanot became the first black African professionals to race in
the Tour de France in 2015, with Steve Cummings picking up a stage win on
Nelson Mandela Day for their South African MTN-Qhubeka team.
MTN was
promoted to WorldTour level in 2016 where they
continue to race as Dimension Data, now boasting new names like Mark Cavendish. That top-tier licence opens
the door for it to race in any event, and Kudus has now completed all three
Grand Tours, including the Vuelta
a España twice, and raced against every star.
“Now,
it’s Aru and Bardet,” Kudus says of his star rivals. “Races like Valenciana are
definitely motivating, especially with Quintana, who is already world-class
among the GC contenders.”
A long
way from Musanze
Kudus –
with his welcoming smile, brown skin and cropped frizzy hair – came a long way
from Eritrea. The third-world country is rich is cycling culture thanks partly
to Italian colonization, but struggles to support any sort of infrastructure
enjoyed by budding US or British cyclists.
When I
first met Kudus, it was at the 2012 Tour of Rwanda racing for the UCI World
Cycling Center's African branch. He blasted away to win the first road stage and nearly won
the race overall. He only folded under pressure from the South Africa team.
One
night when the race arrived in Musanze, famous for its gorillas living in the
volcanic hillsides, I went to interview to Kudus in his room. It was filled
with a jasmine or lavender scent from an oil one of his team-mates used to
massage the other’s legs. Four of them bunked in the same room that night.
He mostly only spoke his local Tigrigna language at that
time. He was shy and quiet, but had that same hair, smile and motivation you
see today.
Merhawi Kudus With Eritreans-Fans |
Afterwards,
the head coach of the team and the Africa centre, J.P. Van Zyl stopped me in
the hallway. “This kid, 18 years old, he’s going places,” Van Zyl said. “He’s a
born cyclist. He was born with a brain for cycling.”
“I
remember that,” Kudus says. “It was one of the first times out of my country,
after only going to South Africa first.
“Everything
was quite difficult for me. The communication, the food in the races. I’d only
been to South Africa for three months and then we went to Rwanda.”
A
couple of pieces fell into place for Kudus. First, he earned chance to race and
train at UCI’s main development center in Switzerland and second, at the same
time in South Africa, Doug Ryder was slowly building the MTN-Qhubeka team that
would offer many Africans a path into the professional ranks.
Tour
success
Kudus
bases himself in Lucca, Italy, with the Dimension Data team and many other
professionals, but he calls Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea in Africa’s
east, home.
He
lives in the city situated on a rocky plateau at 2325 meters. It is ideal
because he sleeps at altitude and trains below. He cuts through the palm-lined
streets with elegant buildings reminiscent of southern Italy and descends switch backed roads resembling those you would see in the Alps. He will ride to
Massawa along the Red Sea and back up to the Kebessa Plateau.
“In
December, when I was riding in the early mornings, there would be fog and it
would cover the plain,” he continues. “I really enjoy those months. I ride
through the fog and you cannot see in front of you. And then I descend into the
sunshine.”
When
Doug Ryder received the wildcard invitation from the Tour DE France, he wanted
to make sure his team consisted of home riders as well as Europeans like
Cummings. Kudus, then 21, made the
nine-man team.
He
was the youngest rider of the 2015 Tour, which was a success for Eritrea’s
debutants. Teklehaimanot wore
the polka-dot mountains jersey for four days, the
first African to do so. The Eritreans following the Tour sang and danced loudly
in their country’s colors
Merhawi - Kudus |
The duo
returned to a hero’s welcome, paraded through Asmara’s streets and greeted at
the national stadium by President Isaias Afwerki. State television ERI-TV
beamed the images live around Eritrea. Kudus’s popularity remains high.
“The
big thing is communication when he’s back in Eritrea,” says Dimension Data
coach Trevor Court. “They have to go to internet cafes and telephones don’t
work at times.
“Sometimes,
it’ll be a week or two until I can get training data from him and then it’s too
late to make a change. Now, he’s going to the internet cafe to send his data
almost every day. We are used to having internet all the time to interact. It’s
a big difference there in Eritrea.”
“It’s
totally different than Europe, where the internet is fast,” explains Kudus. “We
have normal telephone signals, but we don’t have data. If you need internet,
you can go to the internet cafe.
“That’s
why I really like my country, because I need to be off the internet. We spend
too much time on it.
“In
Eritrea, I’ll go and check my e-mail and send my training files, but I’ll never
chat. When you are in Europe, you are with your phone 24 hours a day. In
Eritrea, you can switch off, no Whats App, just time with your family and
friends. You can read a book or watch TV, or walk some where. We are not busy
by the internet. I like it.”
Eritrea
retains many Italian touches from the days when it was colonized. Cycling is one of them. Kudus’s dad started
him down the road. He has one sister and four brothers, his younger 14-year-old
brother shares the same desire.
The
country has many local races and boasts around 1800 registered cyclists. At
night, you can turn on the television at 9pm for news in the Tigrinya language.
And every night, the general news is followed by sport: first cycling, then
running and football.
“Asmara is really small, but I’m usually quite lazy after training so I
use the car just to get to the internet cafe. Also because people are
celebrating the cyclists and you have to hide out. If you’re walking around or
on your bicycle, everybody stops you, so you have to hide and that’s easier
with
the car. In the coffee shop, I am left alone. I will give the owners five
minutes or so of my time for photos. When I am busy, I have to secretive.”
The
Lucca learning curve
Kudus
and Dimension Data call Lucca home in Europe. He lives with Natnael Berhane in
the small Tuscan town with around 50,000 inhabitants spread out from the city’s
famous oval piazza. Mekseb Debesay is near by. Also Daniel Teklehaimanot, who
now has his wife and child living with him.
Some
Eritreans from Milan will travel to Tuscany with care packages and support
every so often. Kudus relies on them, his team-mates, and of course Dimension
Data’s support. He speaks some Italian. And his English, like his riding, has
improved tremendously.
“I’ve
been there for three years and it feels like my second home. I know where I can
go and have fun. I’m alone, but not lonely,” he says.
“A
girlfriend? Not yet. They call me because when I was in Eritrea, there were
many ladies. That’s part of life, but I haven’t got it right yet. It’s not like
cycling. It’s harder than winning a grand tour stage!”
Dimension
Data scheduled him in several week-long stage races through the spring and
summer. From Abu Dhabi, he heads to Europe and will race the País Vasco next.
His programme includes the Tour de Romandie, the Tour of California, the Tour de Suisse, and some races like Coppi e
Bartali.
“He’s
keen to follow the big guys, staying with Contador and Quintana motivates him,”
Court says.
“Over
time he’s become more calculated. He’s so feisty, though. At the start, he
would go after everything. It’s taken some time for him to learn to be calculating.”
Kudus
agrees: “Yeah, you have to be calculated. You have to go off of power and
watts.
“In
the past, I’d follow any guys until there was a big explosion and afterwards I
wouldn’t even be able to ride my tempo. So you just need to sit there riding
close, but not in the red. Stay in the yellow.”
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