Ineos launch Eliud Kipchoge Cycling Academy in Kenya

Ineos Eliud Kipchoge Cycling Academy has been launched by Ineos and Global Sports Communications stable in Kaptagat in Elgeyo Marakwet County.

In partnership between multiple Grand-Tour-winning cycling team, Ineos Grenadiers, and double Olympic champion and marathon world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge, the teams are working together to create the new academy at the renowned Kaptagat camp - Eliud Kipchoge’s NN Running Team training centre.

Kipchoge said that he was glad that the camp was expanding and venturing into a new sport that will enable young talented cyclists move to the next level.

"I'm proud that we are expanding our training camp from a purely athletics focused training camp towards a wider kind of sports academy. The Ineos Eliud Kipchoge Cycling Academy is a very natural fit with great potential to enable our young talented cyclists to make the next steps towards the top level of cycling," said the two-time Olympics marathon champion.

The academy will be headed up by Valentijn Trouw, Performance Director at Global Sports Communication, and the rest of the GSC Team.

Trouw and the GSC Team have more than 30 years’ experience in identifying and nurturing long distance running talent in Kenya, creating a pathway for some of the greatest distance runners ever to compete on the world stage.

It is the ambition of this project to utilise this knowledge, combined with that of the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, to create a world-class, sustainable academy in Kenya.

Trouw said that they have worked with long distance runners in the East African region and great training in Kaptagat will develop good cyclists and bring in best practice in competitive cycling.

“We believe the exceptional local endurance talent combined with the great training environment at Kaptagat will be perfect for developing quality cyclists. Working together with Sir Dave Brailsford, the Ineos Grenadiers Cycling Team and tapping into the broader Ineos sporting family will bring us the world’s best practice in competitive cycling,” he said.

“I am excited by the opportunity to build a relatively new sport in Kenya, in good harmony and collaboration with the Kenyan Cycling Federation, bringing together our collective knowledge and insights from running and cycling for the benefit of the sport.”
Ineos’ chairman, Sir Jim Ratcliffe said: “There is such exciting sporting talent, passion and ambition in Africa and at Ineos we want to continue to invest to help realise its maximum potential. I visited the Kaptagat facility in Kenya recently and came away convinced that this partnership can do something truly different and unique for cycling – as well as for aspiring young African athletes.”

Ineos’ Director of Sport and Ineos Grenadiers Team Principal, Sir Dave Brailsford said: “This is a hugely significant and exciting development in world cycling - it has the power to drive lasting change by developing new riders from Africa. We all know the talent is there - we saw it recently when Biniam Girmay made history by winning a stage at the Giro d’Italia, and I saw it first-hand in the inspiring young athletes I met in Kaptagat.

“Their passion, dedication and love of sport is a perfect fit with the Ineos Grenadiers’ spirit of giving it all to race and be your best. Together I believe we can achieve something unique and important for cycling in Kenya, Africa, and the sport itself.”

Additional reporting by Global Sports Communication