“She will win the Tour de France Femmes one day” – Young Ethiopian gem claims breakthrough top-10 at junior World Championships

Ethiopia’s Kahsay Tsige Kiros delivered a standout performance in the junior women’s road race at the UCI Road World Championships on Saturday, finishing seventh and marking a breakthrough result both for herself and her country. The 18-year-old from Adigudem animated the opening laps of the 74km course and, despite a mid-race crash, powered up the final climb, Côte de Kimihurura, closing in on the five leaders at the finish line.

“We are not surprised at all. We knew there was something there. We didn't want to put too much pressure on her. She already puts a lot of pressure on herself. We knew there was something,” Kiros’ coach Clint Trevino Hendricks told Cyclingnews, noting that she entered the Worlds as one of the junior favourites.

Hendricks, the sporting coach for the World Cycling Centre (WCC), explained how Kiros was discovered last year. “We discovered her last year through a local mechanic, and they are in Mekelle. We spoke with him and the Ethiopian national federation, asking if they had any talented riders that they thought would be good. They recommended her.”

Following this, Kiros joined the development programme at the WCC Continental Satellite in Paarl, South Africa. “We did some testing and training there and brought her onto the programme for this year,” Hendricks said.

Kiros spent time previewing the Kigali course before traveling to Brittany, France, where she lived and trained full-time for 2025. “We brought them to Kigali in February for a small training camp, did some bike fits, and then we went across to Brittany in April, where we did more of our racing. She has been living and racing there for this whole year,” Hendricks explained.

Earlier in the season, she won four of the five stages and the overall title at the Tour Tigrai Women Stage Race in Ethiopia and also claimed the junior women’s road race title in June, besides of finishing second in junior the time trial, one second behind Rahel Gimbato.

She also rode the Tour de l'Avenir Femmes, in which she finished in 22th place, before travelling to Rwanda. “We had a chat before we started the World Championships. She did the Tour de l'Avenir and did very well, but I think there are some small things that she can improve on,” Hendricks said.

Despite having a preestablished plan, Kiros' lack of experience made her spend too much energy too early in the race. “From today, the plan was to wait for the last lap, but I think she got excited for the crowds and the environment here, shouting and cheering. In the car, we had to phone the soigneurs in the feedzone to tell her to calm down,” Hendricks recalled.

Still, she managed to hang on and finished in seventh place, just 3 seconds behind the winner Paula Ostiz, while beating some of the biggest favourites such as Megan Arens, Oda Aune Gissinger, Auke De Buysser or Maria Okrucińska. “She came very close, and there is definitely a lot of power there. She learns at her first World Championships,” Hendricks said. “Any top 10 for us would have been a good result, but once you see the race, we knew she could do something special.”

When asked about her 2026 plans, Hendricks did not reveal whether she would remain with WCC or move to a ProTeam or WorldTeam, but he expressed strong confidence in her future. “Really bright, really bright. I told her, just now, that it's OK, we will learn from this, and a top 10 is still a good result. It is impressive. She will win the Tour de France Femmes one day.”