Tour de France #1: Boasson Hagen powers to 10th place on stage 1
Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka had a good start to this year’s Tour de France as Edvald Boasson Hagen made Top10 in the opening time trial in Düsseldorf. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) took the win and the first yellow jersey of the race.
On paper, today’s 14 km long fight against the clock didn’t look too to be difficult for the riders. However, the rainy weather conditions in Germany made the roads very slippery, which caused several riders to crash. Amongst those who went down were two of the overall contenders Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida). Both riders crashed in the same corner and had to abandon the Tour on the very first day of racing. Scott Thwaites also hit the deck but luckily, he was able to continue with just a few bruises and a quick scare.
Knowing how dangerous the wet roads could be, the Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka riders didn’t take any risks, saving themselves for the expected bunch sprint tomorrow. Only Edvald Boasson Hagen tested his legs and the newly crowned Norwegian time trial champion put in a very strong performance. At the intermediate time check with 5.9 km to go, Boasson Hagen was 15th but on the final part towards the finishing line, he managed to move up to take 10th place on the stage. He will start tomorrow’s stage, only 16 seconds off the yellow jersey.
Edvald Boasson Hagen: “It was really nice to finally get the race started. Personally, I’m happy about my performance. I was feeling all-right but I didn’t risk anything through the slippery corners. Still, I managed to finish in an okay time and I’m quite happy about that. Of course, you always want to go faster but I still think I should be satisfied with today’s result”.
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.
All images attached to the press release can be used with the respective image credit in combination to this release.
