Vuelta a Espana #11: Kudus and Janse van Rensburg animate break of the day

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka shows fighting spirit

After a much needed rest day for most of the peloton the Vuelta a Espana continued today with stage 11. Chris Froome (Sky) managed to cross the finish line on the Pena Cabarga in first position ahead of overall leader Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (both Movistar). Merhawi Kudus was the team’s best placed finisher. He spent most of the day in the break but was caught by the aforementioned riders with 4km to go and eventually crossed the line 2.45min down.

The race started with a blistering pace and it took a long while until 23 riders managed to break clear from the peloton. Kudus and Jacques Janse van Rensburg managed to jump into the group. However, Movistar and Tinkoff were not overly keen on letting the group get a big gap and kept a striking distance. In the finale the gap dropped below the 1min mark and it was then that both Kudus and Janse van Rensburg showed our African team’s fighting spirit. The latter was one of the first to attack from the break, but he was pulled back by the others. Kudus then tried to stay out as long as possible, yet when the GC favorites decided to start their fireworks it was all over for him and the remaining break.

Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) was the first to give it a real go. He couldn’t sustain his gap though and was reeled in inside the final kilometer, when both Valverde and Quintana tried to outclimb Froome, who eventually stayed calm enough to take the win on the day.

Merhawi Kudus – Rider

After yesterday’s rest day a lot of teams tried to be present in the break. At the beginning it was really hard. The break took more than one hour to forge clear, but luckily I made it together with Jacques. With 90km to we had a gap of nearly 5min, but then the peloton really picked up the pace and the gap came down quickly. In the end I gave all I had to stay upfront. We got caught on the final climb, but I guess that cycling.

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. 

All images attached to the press release can be used with the respective image credit in combination to this release.