Ask someone to name a Kenyan cyclist and they're likely to reply Chris Froome. The two-time Tour de France champion may be the most famous cycling export from the African country but Stewart Crowley is aiming to ensure he has company in the WorldTour ranks in the years to come.
Crowley is the team manager of Kenyan Riders Down Under who test themselves against Froome and Team Sky at next week's Jayco Herald Sun Tour. First, the team will line up Sunday for the 1.HC Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. The team's second UCI event of the month having also started the 2.2 NZ Cycling Classic with newly crowned New Zealand national champion Jason Christie.
While the team is predominantly made up of Kenyan riders, there are several Australian and New Zealand riders on the roster this season to provide leadership and share their experience of racing at UCI level.
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"There are no favourites in the team, everyone has to perform to keep their spot," Crowley told Cyclingnews of the roster. "Cycling is a team sport and it's now very common for international cycling teams to be a multicultural melting pot. We are just the same however our base is of Kenyan men. It will be interesting to watch how the Kenyan athletes slot into their roles within the new team. [Sports director] Garry Elliott and I have specifically recruited a team of cyclists from African, Australian and New Zealand who will gel quickly and can win bike races."
The roots of the team extend almost eight years back to a running event where team founder and current CEO Nicolas Leon witnessed the performance of several Kenyans and sought to transfer their talent to the bike as Crowley explained.
"Nicolas was watching the Singapore marathon in December 2005 and the Kenyan runners dominated the competition. He went and introduced himself to the Kenyans and then followed them back to their hometown of Eldoret," he recounted. "Off the back of that experience, he had this idea that he would create a cycling team starting with Kenyan runners in 2006. Since then, they've had a good camp based cycling programme in Iten Initially coached by Frenchman Jerome Casagrande then Rob Higley, Ciaran Fitzpatrick and Simon Blake.
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