Professional European cyclists with gleaming bicycles and fully equipped back-up teams compete with locals on rickety 30-year-old bikes in Africa’s best-known cycle race, the 1,300 kilometre Tour du Faso.
Starting in the capital Dakar, the Tour du Senegal takes in much of the country, both rural and urban, in temperatures which rise as high as 47 degrees Celsius.
Eritrea’s passion for cycling is one of many lasting influences of Italian colonial rule.
