Tour de France #21: Boasson Hagen & Janse van Rensburg finish top 10

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka conclude dream Tour de France

Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) won the final stage of the Tour de France, sprinting to victory on the Champs-Elysees ahead of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha). The overall victory went to Chris Froome (Team Sky), his 3rd Tour de France career win. 

After an incredible 3 weeks of racing, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka put in one final fantastic performance during today's last stage. Daniel Teklehaimanot made sure our African Team was represented in the famous Champs-Elysees breakaway and when it was certain that they would be caught, Steve Cummings closed down any further attacks to ensure a sprint finish.

Edvald Boasson Hagen was our man for the final and he had Bernie Eisel and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg for support in the final 5km. Eisel, our road captain, did an exceptional job to deliver Boasson Hagen to the last kilometer in an excellent position. It was always going to be difficult to get one over on the big names, but Boasson Hagen did superbly to cross the line in 4th place with a fast finish. Janse van Rensburg also secured another top 10 result for our African Team, placing 10th.

Rolf Aldag - Head of Performance
Today we did exactly what we have been doing for the last 3 weeks. We wanted to be on the offensive, show our team in the race and we wanted to get the fans interested in our team, showing them that we ride for Qhubeka. Daniel did a great job being present in the breakaway and then obviously the plan was to do the sprint for Edvald. We placed him as best as we could and Bernie Eisel did a tremendous job. It was probably the best leadout so late in the final that he has done in the last 10 year's. It was a great job, totally sacrificing himself and then Edvald took the sprint on. Edvald was with the best but obviously winning the sprint on the Champs-Elysees is super difficult. We were there, we were present once again and I think with 5 stage wins in the pocket we can have a nice party tonight before we go home.

Looking back on the 3 weeks that was the 2016 Tour de France, our 5 stage wins was more than any other team in the race. Mark Cavendish showed why he is the best sprinter in the world once again, with his 4 stage wins, a day in the yellow jersey, 6 days’ in the green jersey and taking his career tally of Tour stage wins up to 30. The 2nd most in the history of the race behind Eddy Merckx's 34 stage victories. Steve Cummings stage 7 win was just another incredible performance by a super talented individual.

The team were fantastic in supporting one another throughout the 21 stages and it showed by 6 of our 9 riders finishing with top 10 results. We had 15 top 10 placings to be proud of and Serge Pauwels 2nd place on Ventoux and Edvald Boasson Hagen's 3rd place on stage 10 are two results that deserve a notable mention. All these results though were inspired by our goal to try and put 5000 African children on bicycles, through the #Qhubeka5000 campaign we ran during Le Tour. 

We are proud of what our riders were able to achieve and would dearly like to thank everyone across the world who supported our team and our #Qhubeka5000 campaign during the Tour. Congratulations to Chris Froome on his 3rd Tour de France title and well done to Louis Meintjes (Lampre-Merida), becoming the first African rider to finish in the top 10 of the overall classification at the Tour de France.

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 #BicyclesChangeLives Campaign, 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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