Uganda's first pro female cyclist, Florence Nakagwa

Following a busy summer racing for CANYON//SRAM Generation, Florence Nakagwa, Uganda’s first professional cyclist in the women’s peloton, speaks to Alice Jackson ahead of the UCI World Champs.

Back in 2022, Florence Nakagwa watched her phone screen in awe from her bedroom in Ssaza, a small town in Masaka City, 136km from Uganda’s capital, Kampala. She saw CANYON//SRAM rider Kasia Niewiadoma step onto the podium of the Tour de France Femmes – and had no idea that in just three years time, her hero would become her teammate.

“I feel proud and happy,” says Uganda’s first professional cyclist in the women’s peloton, as she reflects on her maiden season riding for a European team.

Florence, who has spent the summer training and racing for CANYON//SRAM’s Generation World Tour Development team alongside her idols, was more than a little starstruck when she entered the camp in Denia, Spain:

“I’ve never been shy, but the moment I reached the camp, I was shy for the first time,” admits the 21-year-old rider, whose love for the sport took root when she would cycle 50km every day to deliver groceries and medicine to her grandparent’s house during Covid.

Each journey during the pandemic brought excitement, discovery, and a newfound independence, and her love of the sport grew; she joined Masaka Cycling Club in her local town, receiving coaching from her brother and father.

Within 18 months, Florence was representing her country on the international stage. In 2022, she raced gravel with Team Amani, an East African team based in Iten, Kenya.

A year later, she won the Ugandan National Road championship and represented her country at the African Continental Championships, before completing the Tour du Burundi Feminin in 2024.

Imposter Syndrome

Florence’s imposter syndrome on that first day at the CANYON//SRAM camp was thus unwarranted, her name decorated with multiple African racing titles across disciplines. Nonetheless, the furious speeds and chaos of the peloton, which are enough to shake even the most seasoned pros, have presented her with unfamiliar challenges this season, and she rolled to the start of her first UCI Continental race in April, Gran Prix Féminin de Chambéry, feeling a mixture of excitement and fear.

“Racing has been a bit tough because it was my first time doing big races… the peloton size was way bigger than the ones that I normally race…if you crash at that speed, it will be very bad.”

But Florence, determined to make the most of the infrastructure, staff, and expertise on hand at CANYON//SRAM, channelled her initial doubts into a desire to learn from the best:

“I’m always someone who wants to learn more…Coming from Africa and entering Europe was as if I was setting up from zero. I’m now starting afresh, and I need to learn more things”

The rising talent was taken under the wing of the team’s sports director Malgorzata (Gosia) Jasins, to whom she is grateful for acting as a mother figure while she was finding her feet in a fiercely competitive pro scene.

It took a while for Florence to adjust to the shift in pace and style from smaller national races to the complex team dynamics of continental tours, but despite some tough results and difficult lessons learned this summer, the young Ugandan continues to look forward.

Later this month, Florence will swap her iconic CANYON//SRAM pink jersey (below) for the black, yellow and red stripes of her country at the UCI World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. For the first time, the competition will be hosted on the African continent.

“It’s something that can’t be done by everyone, and it means that I’m carrying the responsibility on my shoulders. Representing my country is something that makes me feel special.”

Florence will line up on Saturday 27th September in the ‘Land of A Thousand Hills’ alongside the best of the best– including Team Visma leader and 2025 Tour de France Femmes winner Pauline Ferrand Prevot– to tackle the gruelling 164.4km course, which features 3,350m of climbing.

However, while the young rider is looking to take the knowledge and experience she’s gained this summer to improve on her 2023 World Champs debut, the significance of this year’s race extends far beyond any personal accolades.

On Home Soil

“Being the first time that Africans are hosting the World Championships, I see it as portraying a big opportunity for Africans and laying a legacy for African cycling and the diversity of cycling.

“It’s been a difficult situation for Africans when it comes to visas – we end up missing out because of visa denials. This time around, I know there are many African countries that have got a free entry to Rwanda,” says Florence, whose own journey to begin her career with CANYON//SRAM was delayed by 12 months due to visa challenges.

As one of the most prestigious events in the racing calendar, the World Championships will no doubt play a large role in placing East Africa’s vibrant cycling scene on the map. However, the playing field remains uneven.

Where dominant European countries are able to field larger teams of five or six experienced riders, Florence had to work alone in the pack as the only Ugandan athlete when she competed in Glasgow in 2023.

This year, Florence will be joined by three other upcoming Ugandan riders: Mary Aleper, Miria Nantume, and Trinitah Namukasa. However, varying levels of racing experience across countries exacerbates an already prominent performance gap:

“Sometimes you can have three people, and only one has experience. The other teams have four people, and all of them have experience, so it’s hard.”

The diversity issue in cycling is no secret. Equipment costs, unequal racing opportunities, and unfair qualification standards all contribute to a predominantly white, Western peloton in elite road racing. Women’s professional cycling is certainly entering a transformative era, with increased visibility and long-overdue investments helping to make women’s races look at least something like the men’s equivalent.

The UCI handlebar regulation controversy earlier this year – with the minimum width making things harder for female athletes – is just one example of how inequalities within the sport are finally being scrutinised publicly.

And there is still huge ground to cover when it comes to making participation more accessible for athletes from developing countries, as well as ethnic minority groups.

Florence cites deeply engrained cultural norms as the biggest barrier to participation for girls in Uganda:

“There is a saying that biking isn’t made for girls, it is only for men. People always discourage girls a lot.”

Now back in Uganda, Florence cruises along her favourite Mbarara road on her coral pink CANYON Aeroad – a significant upgrade from the heavy black mamba bike she rode at the beginning of her cycling journey.

Pay It Forward

Returning home after her season abroad, she is already noticing a shift. She tells her story to young girls at her local club to show them how life as a female professional cyclist is achievable, but only with the right grassroots structures and opportunities in place.

“I started alone. But right now, as I speak, I’m happy to see that there is a big number of girls, more than fifteen. We talk and I share my story with them.”

Once faced with disapproval and criticism from a culture which held little space for girls with dreams of becoming athletes, Florence searched online for videos of her heroes for inspiration:

“The motivation that I had came from watching cycling videos on YouTube, seeing other women cycling. I always had people trying to discourage me. But looking at those cyclists, van Vleuten, Zoe Backstedt, Kasia (Niewiadoma), and their dedication, those words felt like nothing to me.”

Now, the next generation of Ugandan cyclists have a role model of their own in the women’s peloton.

Watch Florence Nakagwa and the other riders in action at the UCI Road World Championships – from 21-28 September on TNT Sports and BBC.

Photos: Florence Nakagwa