Since his victory at the Tour de Djibouti à Vélo, he has earned the fitting nickname of "the FFDj's Pogacar". Florent Ferrero is a familiar face in Djibouti, a country he has grown to love — and the feeling is mutual. That bond grew out of a series of deployments to Djibouti, successive stays that drew this serviceman into the Djiboutian cycling scene: first as a coach, then as a mentor, and finally as technical adviser to the national cycling team.

A non-commissioned officer with the French Forces stationed in Djibouti, Florent Ferrero is a cycling enthusiast. A former military cyclo-cross champion in France, he had no trouble dominating the Tour de Djibouti à Vélo. But his history with Djibouti, and above all with its professional cycling circles, runs much deeper and further back. His record spans coaching, mentoring, fundraising, sponsorship hunting and advising the national cycling team.

Tall and slightly built, Florent Ferrero is a Piedmontese through and through. Humble and easy-going, he is a career serviceman who cut his teeth in the navy — a long way from the muscle of the marine commandos who are the pride of the French army. He describes himself simply as a technician working on information and transmission networks within the Joint Directorate of Information Systems Networks and Infrastructure (DIRISI), now known as the Direction d'Appui Numérique Zonale (DAZN).

It was in that capacity that he was deployed to Djibouti aboard the Georgelais for three days in 2008, then four days in 2009. In 2012 he stopped over for several months, between September and December — enough time to grow fond of the people of Djibouti and to strike up friendships on the cycle paths he loves so much, alongside young riders who shared his passion. By 2018, Florent Ferrero was posted to Djibouti for three years. His natural curiosity led him into the street towards young Djiboutian cycling enthusiasts. Spotting him at once, they invited him to join them. He threw himself in without hesitation, joining this cheerful group riding purely for the love of it.

What they did not know was that Florent had long been a keen cyclist. He already had a string of races and podiums to his name: winner of some twenty amateur races, he finished runner-up at the French armed forces championship in 2012 and placed in the top twenty at the world military championships the following year. A year later he was the undisputed Côte d'Azur champion in the time trial. He has also ridden in several class 2 races, bringing together amateurs and professionals.

Florent proved a valuable asset to his young Djiboutian teammates, giving them technical and physical coaching in the fundamentals of a highly technical sport. He taught them how to shelter from the wind, ride in a peloton and maintain their bikes. With the backing of a generous patron, the young riders acquired seven fine carbon bikes — like those used by Tour de France competitors — and a set of fourteen French-brand jerseys. All this equipment was shipped from mainland France with the help of Mr Christophe Guilhou, then France's ambassador to Djibouti.

Jacques Sabatier, an expert trainer with the French cycling federation and also chair of the college of race commissaires, travelled to Djibouti to run several days of bike mechanics training for Djiboutian athletes at the Gouled stadium. Emboldened, the young riders entered the African cycling championship held in Luxor, Egypt, in 2017. It paid off: they turned in unexpected performances for a first appearance. Djibouti's national cycling team finished mid-table, in eleventh place among the twenty participating countries. In the individual events, the two best Djiboutian riders even took twenty-ninth and thirtieth place out of around a hundred competitors.

Buoyed by such results, the national team set its sights on the Olympic Games. To earn a ticket, riders must compete in the UCI 2.2 Tour of Africa, a semi-professional Olympic qualifying event. But it was still a little too soon. In 2018, the national cycling team took part in the African road cycling championships in Kigali, Rwanda, finishing thirteenth out of twenty-five participating countries. It was in the individual time trial that young Abdek Khaireh came through in thirty-first place out of a hundred competitors. Very encouraging results for athletes still finding their feet. That same year, Florent Ferrero came to the end of his posting in Djibouti. He left with a heavy heart — but a well-filled contacts book.

Enlisting the former president of the Djiboutian Cycling Federation, Hassan Samireh Sougueh, he sealed a valuable partnership with professional bike manufacturer LOOK, which donated ten carbon bikes to the national cycling team. Florent Ferrero returned to Djibouti in 2023 for a final deployment with the FFDj — a chance to reunite with his comrades and to take part, among other things, in the first edition of the Tour de Djibouti à Vélo, where he lit up the race and won every single stage, against some of his own former students. A gift from above: to see his friends again and share the same passion.