“Each time I touch a bike, I want to make sure it can race fast.”
South African Benedict Moqumo is still learning the ropes when it comes to bike mechanics but exudes a self-assurance that instantly gives the rider confidence. He is nevertheless far from trying to say that he knows it all.
Currently in training at the mechanics workshop at the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland, the former cyclist from Johannesburg – known to most as Bennie – is soaking up the experience and learning every day.
“Each and every time you touch a bike you learn a new skill. You hate yourself for a couple of minutes and then you get over it because you’ve learned something new. There is plenty I’m still learning. There are so many little things, tricks, and ropes… it takes years to learn.”
Bennie’s passion for bike mechanics started when he worked on his own bike as an athlete.
“I taught myself things outside my comfort zone, things that made me feel scared, that made me ask myself ‘can I really do that?’”
His studies in electrical engineering reinforced his desire for everything to work 100%: “Anything mechanical needs to work efficiently. You don’t want to hear noises you don’t understand, right? And you should only work on it once. I mean, you never buy a car then take it back every two weeks to be worked on!”
From athlete, via coaching, to mechanics
Bennie’s cycling story began by chance when he was a schoolboy in the J’burg township of Soweto: his mother’s boss was cleaning out his garage and giving away his bikes. Bennie received a mountain bike and quickly got hooked. To cut a long story short, he was invited to join a club, switched to road cycling, and then track. It soon became obvious he had talent, and he was invited for several training camps at the UCI WCC Continental Development Satellite in Paarl, South Africa. He also spent a week at the UCI WCC in Aigle, Switzerland, in October 2019, training with the track group. Into the bargain, he embarked on a coaching qualification.
His training and racing came to an end when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. He finished his degree then, in 2021, accompanied the South African team to Cairo, Egypt, as a mechanic for the UCI Junior Track World Championships. During the event, he also helped out with some of the UCI WCC Africa bikes, and was consequently invited back to Paarl, this time as a trainee mechanic. He hasn’t looked back.
Contributing to the Africa 2025 programme
The young South African has been part of the UCI World Cycling Centre’s Africa 2025 strategy to help prepare the continent’s riders for the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. He was a member of staff that travelled with a group of selected Africans to Europe last year where they trained in Brittany (France) for the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow and across Scotland (Great Britain). This year he was their mechanic at the Tour of Rwanda.
At the time, he said: “I discovered a lot about myself on the bike and off the bike when I was a UCI WCC Africa athlete. With patience, discipline, dedication and trusting the process, success is possible. Now, as a mechanic, I am making sure the next big talent of Africa trains and races on the best equipment they can ever touch.”
His three months as a trainee mechanic at the UCI WCC in Aigle, is part of his continuing apprenticeship. He occasionally works on BMX Racing and track bikes, but is concentrating mainly on road, travelling to several races with the UCI Women’s Continental Team, WCC Team.
“I am fortunate to have the support of the WCC, both the Satellite in Africa and here at the headquarters in Switzerland,” he says.
Experience at the UCI WorldTour
While in Switzerland he was invited to work as a trainee mechanic for UCI WorldTeam Cofidis during the Tour de Romandie (23-28 April), an unexpected added string to his bow.
“It was overwhelming the first day. They (the team) are already operating 100% but they had set out a plan for me with specific tasks.
“I got to go in the car during the race, be in the truck to prepare for the next stages and feel how it’s like to be in the team. I was there as a trainee, but they let me feel part of the team. And the racing was superb, out of this world. It’s something not everyone gets to see, to feel. For me, that was like ‘wow!’ Out of everyone in Africa I got to taste this…”
Shortly before returning to South Africa, Bennie will do another stint with Cofidis, this time at the Tour de Suisse (June 9-18). He enjoys the excitement of working at events, where “you need to stay calm, but calm at a faster rate!”
As soon as he is at a race, he does not hesitate to visit different team trucks and strike up conversations with fellow mechanics.
“Sometimes you need to break the ice, but the community is pretty cool. The mechanics communicate with each other and share stuff.”
Bennie is a stickler for preparation and process and is convinced that riders should not see their mechanic working on their bikes on the morning of a race or stage.
“All that should be finished the day before,” he says. “If a rider sees you fixing something on the morning of a race, it can instill doubt. The only thing they should see you doing is putting on the race number or transponder.
“The athletes must trust us, know that they’re racing on good equipment and that everything they’re gonna put out there is gonna be put out on bikes that are 100%.”
UCI WCC Director Jacques Landry said that Bennie’s story is one of many positive outcomes of the centre’s development programme.
“Our mission is to develop cycling worldwide, and this goes beyond training the athletes themselves. To perform well and reach their goals, athletes need to be surrounded by qualified, competent staff. Thanks to close collaboration with our UCI WCC Continental Development Satellites, we can ensure that each region in the world has mechanics, coaches, and Sport Directors capable of accompanying these athletes in their progression to the highest international level.
“This is the case with the UCI WCC Africa and its Director Jean-Pierre Van Zyl, who has given Bennie a fantastic grounding in mechanics that he is now extending with his three months’ work experience in Europe.”