Tour de France #18: Pauwels keeps Top20 overall

The Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka riders were in the mix once again on stage 18 of Tour de France as the team had no less than three riders in the break of the day. At the end, Serge Pauwels did well to defend his Top20 place in the general classification.

Early on today’s stage, a big group got away from the peloton. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka had been very attentive near the front and managed to get Jaco Venter, Steve Cummings and Serge Pauwels into the group. However, the collaboration up front wasn’t great and the break split up several times.

Towards the top of Col de Vars, four riders managed to get a gap on the rest of the breakaway. After the descent, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) decided to go solo. However, he was later joined - and then dropped - by Darwin Atapuma (UAE Team Emirates). Pauwels was chasing with what was left of the initial breakaway a bit further down.

With five kilometers to go, the strong Belgian was caught by Warren Barguil (Team Sunweb) who had attacked from the peloton. Pauwels continued to fight hard on the steep slopes, while Barguil bridged across to Atapuma at the front. Ultimately, Barguil soloed to victory, while Pauwels crossed the line in 20th place. He’s now 18th in general classification. Chris Froome (Team Sky) still leads overall with just three stages left to go.

Team Dimension Data For Qhubeka

Founded in 2007, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka became the first ever African cycling team to gain a WorldTour license, in 2016. In the team’s palmares you can find a Milan-Sanremo victory, numerous stage wins at the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, two Tour of Britain GC victories, and 36 National Championships. The team has bases in South Africa, the Netherlands 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 change lives with bicycles in Africa. #DoYourPart and gift a bicycle or part of a bicycle, by clicking here.

Qhubeka is an Nguni word that means “to progress”, “to move forward”. Qhubeka (qhubeka.org) partners with communities, public sector, private sector, and non-profit organisations to provide people with bicycles in return for working to improve their community, environment or school attendance. 

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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