http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/cycling-historic-moment/1961218.html
Cycling: Historic moment for Africa as Teklehaimanot starts Tour
The sweltering conditions would have been familiar to Daniel
Teklehaimanot as he rolled down the start ramp on Saturday but not the
wall of noise that hit him seconds later.
POSTED: 05 Jul 2015 00:50
UPDATED: 05 Jul 2015 00:54
UTRECHT, Netherlands: The sweltering conditions would have been
familiar to Daniel Teklehaimanot as he rolled down the start ramp on
Saturday but not the wall of noise that hit him seconds later.
The first black African to ride the Tour de France was given the
honour of being the first of the 198 riders to set off in the medieval
Dutch city of Utrecht where crowds estimated at 700,000 gathered to
watch a 14-kilometre individual time trial.
The 26-year-old is part of debut-making team MTN Qhubeka, the first
African pro-cycling outfit to line up in the world's greatest race.
"(The organisers) phoned me last night and said 'do you want to kick
off the race?'," team president and founder Doug Ryder told Reuters as
Teklehaimanot and his team mates, including American Tyler Farrar,
Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen and South African Louis Meintjes,
sweated on the rollers as the minutes ticked down to the start of the
first stage.
"Most teams don't want to start first, but when they said do you want
to kick off the Tour I was like 'OK, we'd be honoured'.
"When I told Daniel he was starting he said 'fantastic'."
Eritrea's Teklehaimanot, one of 17 children, is not just making up the
numbers in a team backed by MTN, the South African telecommunications
company, and electronics giant Samsung.
He won the king of the mountains jersey at the recent Criterium du
Dauphine and will expect to be mixing it with the world's best
climbers when the race reaches the Alps.
The MTN Qhubeka bus, emblazoned with #bicycleschangelives, was
thronged with people on Saturday, with Ryder's pride clear as he
explained his dream to the media.
Cheered on by fans waving Eritrean flags, Teklehaimanot did not quite
produce the ride he would have liked over the 13.8km course - clocking
16 minutes 30 seconds.
But along with Meintjes, fellow Eritrean Merhawi Kudus, the youngest
rider in the Tour at 21, and South African brothers Jacques and
Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, the days ahead will provide many chances
to showcase the African continent.
"It's David v Goliath, why not?" Ryder said. "But we are here on merit
and not because we are an African team.
"We want to be aggressive, show off the team's colours, show the
potential of African cyclists and, of course, our Bicycles Change
Lives campaign."
That last part sums it up as Qhubeka is a foundation that hands out
bicycles to young Africans.
"If we can go back to (Tour organisers) ASO and say not only were we
successful but we put 5,000 students on bikes so they can live their
dreams and realise their potential, then that's fantastic," Ryder
said.
(Editing by Mark Meadows)
- Reuters
Received on Sat Jul 04 2015 - 14:06:43 EDT