A Mauritian girl embarking on the cycling adventure
Kimberly Le Court de Billot Pienaar – her full name after marrying South African professional cyclist Ian Pienaar – was born in Curepipe to a family of mixed heritage. Her father, Bernard, is of French descent, while her mother, Patricia, hails from Scotland. She speaks fluent French (her native language) and English, and understands Creole, the local language of the island.
“In Mauritius, cycling is extremely small. It was basically nothing back then, in 2013, when I started as a junior,” she recalled.
She first took part in a local 100km mountain bike race as a personal challenge and decided to stick with the sport after trying tennis, golf, touch rugby, and especially football. A talented left-forward, Le Court even turned down a scholarship to the United States to focus on two wheels. “I chose cycling because my parents were in it, my brother (Olivier) was in it, and I didn’t want to go to America so early, it was scary for me,” she admitted.
Motivated by her early results, Le Court gradually fell in love with cycling and decided to follow her brother to South Africa. In 2014, she took part in her first international race as a junior at the UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain. The following season, she joined Britain’s Matrix Fitness team, but her first stint in professional road cycling was short-lived. “We never got paid, there was no minimum wage. And for me, that was my personal struggle. Coming from far away, I had no financial support. So that’s the main reason why I never was able to continue,” said Le Court.
“That’s why I had to go back to Mauritius. That broke me mentally, to not be able to sustain myself and have my parents almost give everything up for me.”