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MTN-Qhubeka announces short team for 2015 Tour de France

  • Ron 

With the Tour de France only a month away now, there has been much speculation as to who might make the MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung squad for their debut appearance at the Tour de France. Today, they officially announced the 11 rider list from which the final 9 riders will be decided.

The shortlist includes 7 African and 4 international riders.

3 of the 7 African riders are from South Africa. South African national road race champion Jacques Janse van Rensburg, the African continental road race champion Louis Meintjes, and our fast finishing Reinardt Janse van Rensburg have all made the selection.

Part of the squad also consists of three Eritrean riders who were all part of Eritrea’s continental team time trial victory this year. Merhawi Kudus, Daniel Teklehaimanot and Natnael Berhane will each by vying for one of the final 9 starting spots. The final African rider on the list is the Algerian Tour de Langkawi victor, Youcef Reguigui.

Complementing the 7 Africans  are 4 experienced international riders: Edvald Boasson Hagen, Steve Cummings, Serge Pauwels and Tyler Farrar. All 4 men have been an integral part to the development of MTN-Qhubeka’s African riders and are now ready to help champion the team’s #BicyclesChangeLives  campaign cause at the Tour de France.

Over the coming month the team will head to a number of races around Europe, including the Criterium du Dauphine and Ster ZLM Toer, and it is only after these events that the decision will be made as to who the final 9 Tour de France riders will be.

Riders
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Natnael Berhane
Steve Cummings
Tyler Farrar
Jacques Janse van Rensburg
Reinardt Janse van Rensburg
Merhawi Kudus
Louis Meintjes
Serge Pauwels
Youcef Reguigui
Daniel Teklehaimanot

“The realisation of the dream of taking an African registered team to the ultimate annual cycling event Le Tour de France is upon us and around the corner,” said MTN-Qhubkea team principal Douglas Ryder. “The squad selected is perfect for the event this year consisting of specialist climbers, classics type riders, time trial lists and riders that can spend hours riding in the breakaways going for stage wins. All 23 riders and all staff in the team have worked incredibly hard to get this amazing squad of riders ready for our biggest challenge ever. This is our chance to open the door for African cycling and to race for a greater cause to mobilise 5.000 African students on bicycles. We are about to realize our dream and through this we want to encourage others to follow theirs.”

I am looking forward to be part of the first African team that takes on the Tour de France,” said likely team captain Edvald Boasson-Hagen. “It is nice to be part of ‘writing’ history. We are going to have a strong team, and hopefully we will get some good success. This will be great to raise awareness for Qhubeka.”

 

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