In 2025, Team Amani is fielding a UCI Continental squad with goals of dominating African road races. It's a new take on an old theme: to show that Africa deserves a place on the cycling map.
The Ethiopian retired from the WorldTour last year. Now, he's a leader on the East African gravel team.
The 32-year-old has been racing as a professional for 10 years and he wants to give back to his home country and help more riders turn pro.
The Ethiopian wanted nothing more than to ride a bike as a child, but he didn't have his own and had to rent one by the minute just to ride.
Grmay grew up in the small dusty Ethiopian town of Mek’ele, a town that has quadrupled in size since his birth, but still has few paved roads. As a child there was lots of football, running, but little cycling. His first hero was the marathon runner, Haile Gebrselassie, who not only competed in the Olympics barefoot but whose stride had a distinctive style came from carrying books to school.