Tour de France #18: GC contenders do battle on mountain TT

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka look ahead to the final few opportunities at Le Tour

Chris Froome (Team Sky) won the stage 18 uphill time trial to Megeve, extending his lead in the overall classification. 2nd place went to Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) and Fabio Aru (Astana) finished in 3rd place.

For Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka, the 17km uphill time trial was not a stage which our African Team riders would target. The tough nature of the course meant it would be a showdown between the top GC contenders as the early times set would all tumble once the climbers reached the finish.

Daniel Teklehaimanot would end up with our team's best time of the day as he completed the 17km course in a time of 33'22". This time would be 2'38" slower than that of Froome, but of little concern at the end of the day. There are still two tough stages coming up in the Alps and the slightly easier day had by Serge Pauwels, Natnael Berhane and Daniel Teklehaimanot today, should stand the trio in good stead to make an opportunists move before we reach Paris.

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg - Rider
It was a pretty tough time trial. The course was definitely designed for a climber and it was one of the toughest courses I have ever done for a time trial. The crowds were great and there was a lot of South African support out there which was really motivating. I had a lot of Afrikaans people shouting at me which was nice. I really enjoyed today.

Team Dimension Data For Qhubeka

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka was founded in 2007, steadily working its way up from a regional team to now being a World Tour team with bases in South Africa and Italy. It’s also known as Africa’s Team due to its focus on helping African talents to the world stage of cycling. The team races to raise funds for the Qhubeka Charity to mobilise people on bicycles in Africa. To contribute to the #BicyclesChangeLivescampaign, click here.

Qhubeka is an Nguni word that means “to progress”, “to move forward”. Qhubeka (qhubeka.org) is part of World Bicycle Relief (worldbicyclerelief.org), a global non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing education, health and economic opportunities by providing simple, sustainable transportation through the power of bicycles.  

Dimension Data (dimensiondata.com) uses the power of technology to help organisations achieve great things in the digital era. As a member of the NTT Group, we accelerate our clients’ ambitions through digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud, workspaces for tomorrow, and cybersecurity. With a turnover of USD 7.5 billion, offices in 58 countries, and 31,000 employees, we deliver wherever our clients are, at every stage of their technology journey. We’re proud to be the Official Technology Partner of Amaury Sport Organisation, organiser of the Tour de France, and the title partner of the cycling team, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka.

Learn more about the team at www.africasteam.com. 

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