01 Aug 2023

Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) National U-23 champion, Matlhogonolo Botlhole is set to make a mark at the UCI Cycling World Championships billed for Glasgow, Scotland.

The championships is scheduled for August 3-13.

The youthful rider will be competing in the Gran Fondo competition Under23 category in both Individual Time Trial (ITT) and road race.

In an interview on Monday, Botlhole said this would be a big opportunity for him which would help elevate his cycling career.

“My profile will be elevated in a big way and this will help in selling myself to other big teams both continentally and internationally as well as to sponsors,” Botlhole said.

In Glasgow, Botlhole said he hoped to engage and interact with more experienced riders and form friendships and prospective collaborations with them.

 “I hope to perform at my level best so that I make an impression and possibly attract interested teams,” he said.

Participation at the Cycling World Championships is through support by the UCI through the solidarity programme, in which the UCI has a tier system that ranks National Federations into four tiers, based on number of factors.

The support for all national federations is offered differently for each based on the tier system, and Botswana which is in tier four for 2023-2025 was offered one spot for an athlete to participate at the event.

Depending on the tier a country falls under, they can get more slots.

However, countries also have the opportunity to apply for registering additional athletes at their expenses and this is also based on the availability of slots in the discipline they wish to participate in.

However, financial constraints could not allow BCA to register more athletes.

Meanwhile, BCA executive will also be participating at the 192^nd UCI Congress which will take place during the world championships.

BCA president Kagiso Potongwane and secretary general, Game Mompe will represent the assoccition at the congress.

“Attending the congress is a privilege as it will afford us the opportunity to learn more and appreciate various reports, programmes and resources by UCI first hand.

It will also allow us to interact with decision makers in world cycling as well as other national federations both from Confederation of African Cycling (CAC) and the world and appreciate how they run their federations, the challenges they faced, their successes. 

This will also be a good benchmarking opportunity for us,” noted Potongwane.

He said they would use the congress to enhance their networking relationships from different structures of the UCI and CAC and ensure that they create awareness of their existence, successes and challenges as BCA.

“Such interactions will pave way for further cooperation and collaboration.”

Additionally, he said they would use the opportunity presented by the congress to find ways of getting more assistance on development of athletes as it was the association’s key focus.

“We have also committed to advancing gender and equality in our sport locally, so we will explore ways to improve on this.

UCI has advised that it is ready and willing to support national associations that have policies and programmes aimed at improving women participation in cycling,”said Potongwane.

On the Solidarity Programme that UCI currently has to assist national federations with development, Potongwane said they would continue to apply for such assistance.

For her part, Mompe said participating at the congress would give them an opportunity to present their questions, ideas and proposals.

The 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships will run for 11 days with more than 2 000 athletes competing in various cycling disciplines such as Road Race, Mountain Bike (MTB) discipline in downhill, cross-country and marathon, para-cycling discipline in road and track, trials, track cycling, BMX discipline in racing, freestyle park and freestyle flatland and Indoor cycling discipline as well as Gran Fondo. ENDS