Eliud Kipchoge launches Cycling Academy in partnership with INEOS

INEOS and Dutch sports management agency Global Sports Communication have launched an ambitious new sporting project in Kenya, dubbed the INEOS Eliud Kipchoge Cycling Academy.

In partnership with 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.

Speaking at the launch, Kipchoge said the facility would help young and talented cyclists to make the leap in cycling.

"I'm proud that we are expanding our Kaptagat based 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," the marathoner said.

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.

“We work with the great potential of East African long-distance runners for over 30 years, and 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. 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,” Valentijn Trouw said.

INEOS’ Director of Sport and INEOS Grenadiers Team Principal, Sir Dave Brailsford termed the project as one that will drive lasting change by developing new riders from Africa, expressing his delight at the passion he witnessed in Kaptagat.

“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," Brailsford said.