To receive a wild card for the Tour de France is a dream come true for the entire MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung team, while it is also a historic moment for African and world cycling. In all the 101 previous editions of the Tour de France, this will be the first time an African registered team will take part in this, the biggest cycling race in the world.
OFFICIAL!!! @TeamMTNQhubeka have received a Wild Card for the 2015 @letour! Amazing news… pic.twitter.com/rvTwBmuVpx
— Team MTN-Qhubeka (@TeamMTNQhubeka) January 14, 2015
“We can light up stages of the Tour and we bring this incredible story to the Tour. We’re putting African kids on bikes and being at the Tour de France would help that immeasurably” said general manager, Brian Smith.
“I’d like to think that the green jersey is an option to target but we’ll certainly be riding for stage wins. We could bring the first African team to the Tour de France and from that the minimum would be to win a stage.”
The 2015 Grand Depart will take place on the 4th July, starting with a 14km time trial in Utrecht. The riders will tackle 21 stages, covering 3344km in total before the 2015 Le Tour finishes on the famous Champs Elysees on 26 July.
The South African team had signed a number of high-profile riders to boost their hopes of selection, including the all-rounder Edvald Boasson Hagen, Steve Cummings, Theo Bos and Tyler Farrar.
MTN-QHUBEKA 2015 TEAM ROSTER
BERHANE, Natnael
BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald
BOS, Theo
CIOLEK, Gerald
CUMMINGS, Stephen
DOUGALL, Nicholas
FARRAR, Tyler
GOSS, MatthewJANSE VAN RENSBURG, JacquesJANSE VAN RENSBURG, ReinardtJIM, SongezoKUDUS, MerhawiMEINTJES, Louis
NIYONSHUTI, Adrien
PAUWELS, Serge
REGUIGUI, Youcef
SBARAGLI, KristianSTAUFF, AndreasTEKLEHAIMANOT, DanielTHOMSON, Jay RobertVAN ZYL, JohannVENTER, Jaco
1 Comment
That’s a great-looking kit, probably my favorite of all time. Great design. Tell me it’s going to be available for the public to purchase!