Look out France, Africa is coming. Last year Eritrean rider Daniel Teklehaimanot became the first African to wear the polka-dot jersey in the Tour de France, leading the King of the Mountain classification through stages 6 to 9. And British teammate Steve Cummings scored the first stage victory for an African team—in the first ever appearance of an African team at the three-week race—on Jul. 18, 2015: Nelson Mandela Day.
A couple of weeks ago Teklehaimanot won the best climber classification at the Critérium du Dauphiné, one of the main warm-up events for Le Tour, defending a title he’d also won in 2015. Now he is setting his sights on a first stage victory at the main event, which runs from July 2 through July 24.
Since last July, Teklehaimanot’s team has rebranded from MTN-Qhubeka to Team Dimension Data. In September, the team signed rider Mark Cavendish, a previous winner of the points classification at all three Grand Tours, and head of performance Rolf Aldag from the No. 4-ranked Etixx–Quick-Step team. Dimension Data has also rapidly climbed the cycling ladder. It was a Continental team four years ago, a Pro Continental team until last year, and is now a UCI World Tour team. “Those are big steps,” Aldag cautions, explaining that his team may need time to adjust to its new status.