ERITREA would appear on no one's list of cycling powerhouses. No African rider has ever won the Tour de France—no black African has ever even competed in it—and the last time an Olympic cycling medal was bestowed on an athlete from anywhere on the continent was 1956. The closed and desperately poor nation, which split off from Ethiopia in 1993 following a 30-year-long separatist conflict, is a minnow even within the broader context of African sports. Unlike, say, Kenyan distance runners or Cameroon's football team, Eritreans are yet to achieve significant international athletic success in any major event.