And now for some good news...

[thom]

The future's bright :

 

[johnr]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/31/cycling-in-yemen-struggle
Not exactly good news, but relevant to this thread, I think

 

[Flying_Monkey]

My new favourite rider and one to watch for next season: Songezo Jim.

 

[User169]

Just saw that MTN-Qhubeka have a wild-card entry to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, so we'll be seeing these cats in action pretty soon.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Just saw that MTN-Qhubeka have a wild-card entry to Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, so we'll be seeing these cats in action pretty soon.

Great!

 

[oldroadman]

There co9uld be a whole load of useful riders coming from the "undeveloped" african countries, their tough lives and seemingly natural endurance talent are a great base to wok from. All they would need is a proper training regime/nutrition, good equipment, and technical/tactical guidance, which of course takes faith and money, but given that, within 5 years it's possible could be an african team (excluding SA) at world tour level, plus a good number pro-conti and pleny of continental.
The worlds could get very interesting too!

 

[Flying_Monkey]

A really excellent article in The Guardian on Rwanda's Adrien Niyonshuti.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

And... the incredibly talented Eritrean rider, Daniel Teklehaimanot, of whom great things were expected, has finally won a race in his debut season for Orica-GreenEdge - the Prueba Villafranca-Ordiziako Klasika, in Spain.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Cyclingnews has a blog for Ethiopian champion, Tsgabu Grmay, for the Tour of Utah

 

[Strathlubnaig]

An opening as a stagiaire for
Merhawi Kudus (Eritrea) with Bretagne Seche.

 

[Buddfox]

Just saw some tweets from Dan Lloyd about Kudus:

@daniellloyd1: The World Cycling Centre is a great facility - had the privilege of meeting supported rider Merhawi Kudus a couple of days ago. 19 years old

@daniellloyd1: From Eritrea - 11th in l'avenir, 15th in yesterdays world's u23, many other solid results this year.

The more coverage like this, the better

 

[Flying_Monkey]

And some extra good news for African cycling fans... Adrien Niyonshuti is back and racing. Some may recall that this really promising rider was all lined up to do big things in Europe last season with MTN-Qhubeka and then was diagnosed with deep-vein thrombosis. The treatment meant blood thinners , leading of course to the opposite effect of what EPO does - low heamocrit, and therefore made it impossible for him to compete in 2013. Now he's better, yay.

 

[rich p]

And some extra good news for African cycling fans... Adrien Niyonshuti is back and racing. Some may recall that this really promising rider was all lined up to do big things in Europe last season with MTN-Qhubeka and then was diagnosed with deep-vein thrombosis. The treatment meant blood thinners , leading of course to the opposite effect of what EPO does - low heamocrit, and therefore made it impossible for him to compete in 2013. Now he's better, yay.

I've just finished reading a book about Rwandan cycling called "The Land of Second Chances" which is largely about Adrien. Worth a read if the subject interests you.

 

[ColinJ]

And some extra good news for African cycling fans... Adrien Niyonshuti is back and racing. Some may recall that this really promising rider was all lined up to do big things in Europe last season with MTN-Qhubeka and then was diagnosed with deep-vein thrombosis. The treatment meant blood thinners , leading of course to the opposite effect of what EPO does - low heamocrit, and therefore made it impossible for him to compete in 2013. Now he's better, yay.

I'm glad he's back!

I have never heard of Warfarin (or other anticoagulants) causing low red blood cell counts and I have been reading a lot about it since I developed the same condition as him and have been taking the drug.

There is no evidence to show use of EPO in his case, but in the early days of its abuse by other cyclists, several died from blood clots before it was realised that precautions were needed to avoid that risk. If people abusing EPO stop doing it, then their performance would suffer. (I know that is not what you are suggesting, and I am not either. I just think you are wrong to blame the medication for his layoff.)

I think the reason that his illness stopped him competing was that it had progressed to pulmonary embolism, which is a very serious life-threatening condition! Some people suffer sudden death from it, and many die more slowly. Others, like me have their aerobic capacity severely damaged. 15 months on, I have only got about 60% of mine back. It would be impossible to compete in that state, and it would be foolish to try.

He is younger and fitter, and has clearly made a better recovery than me. I wish him future good health and a succesful career!

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Sorry to hear that ColinJ, hope you get back to racing soon. Fingers crossed.