MTN-Qhubeka to be first African team in Tour de France

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jan/14/mtn-qhubeka-first-african-team-tour-de-france-cycling

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The South African team MTN-Qhubeka will compete in this summer’s Tour de France in what looks set to be a turning point for cycling in Africa. MTN will be the first African-registered squad to ride the Tour and their general manager, Brian Smith, told the Guardian he hopes to include four or five African riders in his squad.

MTN were among the five teams awarded wildcard places in this year’s race along with the German squad Bora-Argon 18, who raced in 2014 under the Netapp-Endura banner, and the French teams Cofidis, Europcar and Bretagne-Séché Environnement. The 17 teams with UCI World Tour licences such as Team Sky and Astana, received automatic entry in the Tour which starts on 4 July. MTN will also ride the Critérium du Dauphiné stage race in mid-June, although they were not given a slot at Paris-Nice in March.

MTN’s main sponsor is a South African telecoms company and they are also supported by Samsung. Their other title backer, Qhubeka, is not a sponsor in the conventional sense but a volunteer organisation, whose name means “progress”. It aims to help rural communities by giving bicycles to children in return for work done to improve the environment or community. Turning conventional sponsorship on its head, the team race to provide a platform for the charity.

“It’s going to be an emotional day,” Smith said. “In November I was stood in a township and saw what the Qhubeka charity means to these people.”

As one example of the way MTN connect with their host country, the team are likely to link up with the Mandela Foundation to celebrate 18 July, Mandela Day. As part of the bid to get the team into the Tour, the foundation wrote to the Tour organisers ASO with suggestions such as the wearing of special kit bearing the number 67 to denote Mandela’s years of service to his nation, a video campaign and big screens in public places around the world to show the race.

The 22-man roster include 13 riders from four African nations: South Africa, Eritrea, Rwanda and Algeria. “The Tour team will be selected on merit but I’d hope to see the African riders there,” said Smith, who was appointed last year to lead the team’s attempt to earn a place in the Tour.

“I’m sure they will step up and I’ve no doubt there will be four or five from Africa. The biggest thing now is that we have to deliver. We have big goals for the year and we have to make sure everyone in the team delivers. There is a lot of work to be done before July.”

MTN were founded in 2007 and have been registered as Pro Continental – the second tier in world cycling – since 2012. In 2013 they gained their first major result at international level when the German sprinter Gerald Ciolek won the Milan-San Remo one-day Classic and in 2014 the squad gained an invitation to their first Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España.

They have recruited strongly in the close season, hiring sprinters such as the Australian Matt Goss and Tour de France stage winners Tyler Farrar of the US and Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway, as well as the British stage racer Steve Cummings. Smith’s aim is to take the team to World Tour level next year.

MTN are the first African-registered team to be invited to race the Tour but not the first with African links; the Barloworld squad who rode the 2007 and 2008 Tours, winning a stage with their sprinter Robbie Hunter, had a South African sponsor. They included several riders from the continent, including Chris Froome when he was racing on a Kenyan licence, although the team were registered in the UK and largely run by Italian staff.

It is almost seven years since Smith spent a day on the Tour at l’Alpe d’Huez with the Danish squad CSC; among his fellow guests was a 17-year-old South African, Songezo Jim, who had been sent to the race on behalf of a charity providing bikes in the townships.

“I was there with him that day, and now he’s part of MTN-Qhubeka, and for him and the team to be part of the Tour is huge,” Smith said. “I can guarantee he will be back on l’Alpe d’Huez” – the Tour is expected to reach a climax there on 25 July – “whether it’s as part of the nine-man Tour squad or just as part of the team. This is not just another team in the Tour de France, it means a lot to a whole nation.”