By: Hee-Dee Walenga
A group of young Namibian cyclists is representing the country in Kigali, Rwanda at the first UCI Road World Championships to be held on African soil.
They include 17-year-old Delsia Janse van Vuuren, Marco Thiel (17), Roger Surén (18), Rosemarie Thiel (17), and Monique du Plessis (22).
Van Vuuren, Surén, and the Thiel siblings kicked off their World Championship careers in the individual time trials of the junior categories. Du Plessis comes into the 2025 Championships with experience, having competed in the last two editions of the international competition in Switzerland and Scotland.
Despite his age, Surén is a decorated cyclist. He recently added a silver medal from the Junior Men’s Cross Country Olympic (XCO) race at the UCI MTB World Championships in Valais, Switzerland to his cabinet. A fortnight before, Surén was crowned as the U18 Boys’ champion of the FNB Mountain Bike School League in Windhoek.
Speaking to The Villager before the time trials, Surén noted that he generally focuses more on mountain biking, but shared that his goal is to get the best possible result at the world championships.
Van Vuuren and Thiel were the first to do their time trials, competing in a field of 47 riders from 29 different nations, of which 12 were African. The young duo put on a strong performance against some of the best up-and-coming riders in the world. Van Vuuren finished 41st overall, with a time of 32:09.44. Thiel finished 45th overall with a time of 33:37.79.
Speaking to The Villager shortly thereafter, van Vuuren acknowledged that her pre-race excitement resulted in her exerting too much energy in the beginning. The end of the time trial course has a 1.6km climb made of cobble stone, posing a challenge even for the world’s best.
“The cobble climb was so hard. It just kept on going and going. It was the longest 1.6km of my life! But overall it was super fun,” van Vuuren expressed.
Thiel noted that she wasn’t worried about her time during the trials, as her focus is on the 74km individual race on Saturday. “I wasn’t worried about my position today. My focus is on Saturday. I just did it for fun. My favourite part was the cobbles; that is where I went the fastest.
On the men’s side, Marco Thiel finished with a time of 36:10, whilst Surén finished with a time of 32:10. The riders placed 62nd and 36th respectively, out of 85 riders from 57 different nations. The junior men’s 119.3km road race is on Friday.
Du Plessis, who was unable to compete in the U23 time trials due to injury, will compete in the 119.3km individual road race on Thursday.
