Eritrea's Biniam Girmay has been proclaimed winner of the 2024 African Cyclist Trophy, succeeding his compatriot Henok Mulubrhan.

He won the prize, beating off South Africa's Jan Hatherly, who became first African mountain bike world champion and bronze medalist at the Paris Olympic Games, and Algeria's Yacine Hamza who has dominated the main races in the continent in 2024.

Girmay, 24, claimed the top spot courtesy of his great performances in the 2024 Tour de France, winning three stages as well as the prestigious green jersey in the points classification. No African rider had ever achieved this before.

He wins the trophy for the best African cyclist of the year for the fourth time, after 2020, 2021 and 2022.

It is the ninth time in thirteen editions that an Eritrean rider has won this trophy, South Africa has won two with Rwanda having one in Joseph Areruya who retired from competing at the highest level.

Girmay, who previously participated in Tour du Rwanda in 2018, received the highest number of votes from a 25-member jury chaired by five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault. The jury is made up of riders, coaches and representatives of African federations, organisers of cycling events on the continent and specialist African and European journalists who follow all cycling races in Africa.

The Trophy was created to help the development of African cycling by rewarding the rider from the continent who has achieved the best performances of the season and who has succeeded in raising the profile of African cycling on the world stage.