{"id":181664,"date":"2021-02-08T14:25:51","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T14:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=181664"},"modified":"2021-02-08T14:25:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T14:25:51","slug":"groundbreaking-black-college-cycling-team-in-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/02\/08\/groundbreaking-black-college-cycling-team-in-the-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaking Black College Cycling Team in the Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year in April, St. Augustine\u2019s University (SAU) located in Raleigh, North Carolina, became the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the U.S. to establish its own cycling team: the Falcons. The fact that this is big news should not come as a surprise to followers of competitive cycling who have watched international road races and Grand Tours year after year with almost no road racers of colour in the competitions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The idea for the team came from Mark Janas, a professor in the SAU business school and an avid cyclist. The team\u2019s goal is to break down racial barriers in the sport and make a little history, inspired by the legendary \u201cMajor\u201d Taylor, the first Black world cycling champion. Known as \u201cthe Worcester Whirlwind,\u201d Taylor became world champion in 1899, American cycling sprint champion a year later and set a number of track cycling records while battling discrimination and racism.<\/p>\n

Janas explains in a video<\/a> on the website of Canyon Bicycles: \u201cWe soon found out that there are no cycling teams at HBCU schools. That\u2019s when we knew we had to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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