Today's announcement that the team - which will be known as Dimension Data riding for Qhubeka from next season - has been granted UCI WorldTour status for 2016 will be a huge boost, and is sure to get them more exposure, and with it more fans, ultimately hopefully getting more eyes on the Qhubeka charity.
Let's have a history lesson. The team - as MTN - started in 2007, and became a UCI Continental team the next year. They achieved their first win that February, with South African Jay Thomson winning the Tour d'Egypte. Their intentions were made clear from the off, with the team dominating the UCI Africa Tour, providing the top two riders in the individual rankings, and with more than double the team points as African-sponsored Barloworld.
The team's success waned from that first season, picking up the odd stage win here and there, but never reaching the heights of the top of the UCI Africa rankings. The team began to gain the attention of the European audience in 2012, with Reinhardt Janse van Rendsburg's win in the Tour de Bretagne, coupled with his points jersey success in the Volta a Portugal showing the Europe Tour what the African team was capable of.
These successes drew European riders to the team, perhaps going against the team's stated aim to bring African riders to the fore, but conversely bringing extra publicity to the Qhubeka charity. Gerald Ciolek in particular brought the team its biggest result to date, with victory in the 2013 Milan-San Remo, one of the five Monuments.
A solid if unspectacular showing in the 2014 Vuelta played a part in earning them their biggest break, a wildcard into 2015's Tour de France. While being the first African team in the Tour could have reduced them to mere novelty, Daniel Teklehaimanot made sure a greater piece of history was made, with his attacks of the small climbs on Stage 6 earning him the polka dot jersey, becoming the first black African to wear the jersey, holding it for four days until eventual winner Chris Froome took control.
It was a Tour-, and perhaps career-defining performance from Teklehaimanot in particular, and the team as a whole. After flying under the radar somewhat in the previous year's Vuelta, the team knew they needed to make an impact, and targeted the early stages of the mountains as the perfect point to do so. While it would never affect the overall jersey standings by Paris, Teklehaimanot was alert to the prestige wearing the jersey would bring him and his debutant team, and attacked every minor summit to pick up enough points to win the jersey, catapulting him into the spotlight.
A solid if unspectacular showing in the 2014 Vuelta played a part in earning them their biggest break, a wildcard into 2015's Tour de France. While being the first African team in the Tour could have reduced them to mere novelty, Daniel Teklehaimanot made sure a greater piece of history was made, with his attacks of the small climbs on Stage 6 earning him the polka dot jersey, becoming the first black African to wear the jersey, holding it for four days until eventual winner Chris Froome took control.
It was a Tour-, and perhaps career-defining performance from Teklehaimanot in particular, and the team as a whole. After flying under the radar somewhat in the previous year's Vuelta, the team knew they needed to make an impact, and targeted the early stages of the mountains as the perfect point to do so. While it would never affect the overall jersey standings by Paris, Teklehaimanot was alert to the prestige wearing the jersey would bring him and his debutant team, and attacked every minor summit to pick up enough points to win the jersey, catapulting him into the spotlight.
As if to further prove MTN-Qhubeka's deserved place among the elite of world cycling (and their ability to seize opportunities), they picked up stage wins in both the Tour (Steve Cummings on stage 14) and Vuelta (Kristian Sbaragli's sprint win in stage 10). A brilliant ride from Edvald Boasson-Hagen then sealed overall victory in the Tour of Britain, their biggest GC stage race win to date.
But to focus solely on the results the team has achieved is to miss a lot of the charm this squad offers. While perhaps no longer able to claim the 'plucky underdog' status, now that they're on a par with the likes of Sky, Movistar and Tinkoff in the WorldTour, the team still looks set to maintain its uniqueness. For instance, while most teams are gearing towards hosting carefully choreographed training camps around now, the Qhubeka riders went out for a hike up Table Mountain yesterday - as South African as you can get without mentioning Nelson Mandela, the equivalent of an Italian team having pasta in a vineyard owned by the local priest.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the tag of underdogs punching above their weight, there were clear signs of intent from the African squad well before their WorldTour announcement. Indeed, the marquee signing of Mark Cavendish may even have influenced it, with the UCI surely unwilling to let a man who remains one of the top 5 sprinters in the world be in a 'mere' Pro Continental team, scrapping for wildcards into the big events.
Cavendish is not the only big name added, however. While perhaps it could be seen at looking towards the past rather than the future, the captures of Mark Renshaw, Kanstanstin Siutsou and Bernhard Eisel look to revive the legendary HTC-Columbia sprint train that saw Cavendish dominate from 2009-2011. One of Cavendish's main gripes at Quick-Step was his lack of an effective train, so adding two names he knows he can trust to a team already used to sprints with Boasson-Hagen could do his last kilometres the world of good.
Critics will point to these four men all being over 30, and Cavendish being the only one under 33, but there are still many members of the peloton around this age, and they'll be able to bring invaluable experience to the young team. Conversely, the team lost arguably the brightest star in African cycling, Louis Meintjes, to Lampre-Merida, although this was admittedly long before the team knew it would be a WorldTour unit, and one could argue that it was the right career move for Meintjes given the circumstances at the time.
The detractors who say the spate of signings over the last two years (6 of this season's 9 non-African riders joined in winter 2014) have harmed the team's African identity. But the team remains, both philosophically and in terms of personnel majority, an African one. Any team with any aims to progress cannot limit themselves to one nation or region. Even Sky, whose stated aim is to develop British talent, have brought in big name 'foreigners' this winter.
Just take a look at that team photo above. Added to the squad that already contains three national champions are two Sky and two Etixx-QuickStep riders, as well as one from Oreca-Greenedge and Lotto-Soudal. Hardly picking the bones of minor outfits, and it seems to be a sure sign of a team looking to progress, rather than one happy with its slot in the middle of the peloton.
If you're looking for proof that the team's very existence has inspired Africa, look no further than the World Championships from this year. Mekseb Debesay, Eritrea's only entry (and not a Qhubeka rider but bear with me), was realistically never in the hunt, and indeed was not even classified. Nevertheless, he was given a hero's welcome by the huge group of supporters who'd travelled to Richmond just to see their countrymen race over the week. The shots of him lifted up, surrounded by waving Eritrean flags, will remain one of the enduring images of the race in my mind, and highlights how cycling has captured the heart of that one particular country.
Mostly, it's hard to be cynical about a team that essentially exists to highlight an extremely worthy charity. Qhubeka is World Bicycle Relief's South African project, aiming to provide schoolchildren with bicycles to enable them to get access to their schools. It's a beautifully simple concept, and they're nearing their goal of 5,000 bikes by the end of 2015. I'd urge you all to take a look at their website or the #BicyclesChangeLives hashtag, and particularly the Make It Count ride-a-thon.
@TeamMTNQhubeka
Despite, or perhaps because of, the tag of underdogs punching above their weight, there were clear signs of intent from the African squad well before their WorldTour announcement. Indeed, the marquee signing of Mark Cavendish may even have influenced it, with the UCI surely unwilling to let a man who remains one of the top 5 sprinters in the world be in a 'mere' Pro Continental team, scrapping for wildcards into the big events.
Cavendish is not the only big name added, however. While perhaps it could be seen at looking towards the past rather than the future, the captures of Mark Renshaw, Kanstanstin Siutsou and Bernhard Eisel look to revive the legendary HTC-Columbia sprint train that saw Cavendish dominate from 2009-2011. One of Cavendish's main gripes at Quick-Step was his lack of an effective train, so adding two names he knows he can trust to a team already used to sprints with Boasson-Hagen could do his last kilometres the world of good.
Critics will point to these four men all being over 30, and Cavendish being the only one under 33, but there are still many members of the peloton around this age, and they'll be able to bring invaluable experience to the young team. Conversely, the team lost arguably the brightest star in African cycling, Louis Meintjes, to Lampre-Merida, although this was admittedly long before the team knew it would be a WorldTour unit, and one could argue that it was the right career move for Meintjes given the circumstances at the time.
The detractors who say the spate of signings over the last two years (6 of this season's 9 non-African riders joined in winter 2014) have harmed the team's African identity. But the team remains, both philosophically and in terms of personnel majority, an African one. Any team with any aims to progress cannot limit themselves to one nation or region. Even Sky, whose stated aim is to develop British talent, have brought in big name 'foreigners' this winter.
@TeamMTNQhubeka
Just take a look at that team photo above. Added to the squad that already contains three national champions are two Sky and two Etixx-QuickStep riders, as well as one from Oreca-Greenedge and Lotto-Soudal. Hardly picking the bones of minor outfits, and it seems to be a sure sign of a team looking to progress, rather than one happy with its slot in the middle of the peloton.
If you're looking for proof that the team's very existence has inspired Africa, look no further than the World Championships from this year. Mekseb Debesay, Eritrea's only entry (and not a Qhubeka rider but bear with me), was realistically never in the hunt, and indeed was not even classified. Nevertheless, he was given a hero's welcome by the huge group of supporters who'd travelled to Richmond just to see their countrymen race over the week. The shots of him lifted up, surrounded by waving Eritrean flags, will remain one of the enduring images of the race in my mind, and highlights how cycling has captured the heart of that one particular country.
Mostly, it's hard to be cynical about a team that essentially exists to highlight an extremely worthy charity. Qhubeka is World Bicycle Relief's South African project, aiming to provide schoolchildren with bicycles to enable them to get access to their schools. It's a beautifully simple concept, and they're nearing their goal of 5,000 bikes by the end of 2015. I'd urge you all to take a look at their website or the #BicyclesChangeLives hashtag, and particularly the Make It Count ride-a-thon.
