Team Abantu’s Edwards reflects on TDF
In their debut year at the tour, Africa’s MTN-Qhubeka has enjoyed unprecedented success. In a fitting achievement, the team won stage 7 on Mandela Day last weekend, their first ever stage win of the Tour. It was a fine achievement for the team that came into the Tour on a wild card entry.
They’ve had several riders earn top ten finishes throughout the Tour, while Daniel Teklehaimanot claimed the coveted polka-dot climbers’ jersey on stage six – the first African to don the jersey.
It hasn’t been all good news, as promising young rider Louis Meintjes was forced to abandon the tour after succumbing to a bout of gastroenteritis. He had previously earned a top five finish in stage 12 of the Tour.
Edwards said it was a shame to see Meintjes and other riders forced to abandon the Tour.
“I think it’s a blow for him, the team and their campaign to a degree. I think it’s been an incredible performance from him up until now and he does certainly can take a lot away from this. I think it’s only a matter of time in the very near future that we see Louis winning a stage or becoming a GC contender,” Edwards told East Coast Radio Sportswave.
Looking at the team’s performance thus far, Edwards was not surprised by the relative success the new-comers had in Europe.
“To be quite honest, it was a matter of time before they won a stage. They’ve been incredibly successful in terms of their campaign. They came into the race as a wild card entry and there’s always controversy and discussion around wild card entry. I think only 4 or 5 teams that receive a wild card not being part of the Pro Tour’s 18 teams that get automatic entry.”
“You always have to justify getting a wild card and I think MTN has done that, even out performing some of the automatic qualifying pro tour teams. As the saying goes the harder you work the luckier you get. They put themselves in breaks day in and day out and it was only a matter of time before the break stuck and made it to the end. There was some really crafty riding by Steve Cummins (won stage 14 for MTN) to stay within his limits up the mountain, catch two Frenchmen that were racing against each other because it’s a big thing for a Frenchman to win. He caught them by surprise and capitalised. They’ve been aggressive, prominent, showing themselves, putting themselves in the move and taking their chances,” Edwards said.
Another theme this year has been the absence of doping scandals. While the cloud of uncertainty will always hang over the Tour, Edwards said the sport was definitely moving away from a tainted part of its history.
“Let’s hope it stays that way and nothing comes out in the future. Whenever I sit around at dinner parties, the first question that is fired at me is ‘is the sport clean, has it been cleaned up?’ We will enver know and I suppose the sport will never be 100% clean built it certainly has turned the page, tis in a much better position. It is sad unfortunately because of the past, the main GC contenders are going to have to continually answer questions, there’s always going to be doubt in the performances,” he said.
Lastly, Edwards was excited by the young crop of riders peddling their way up the cycling ladder.
“There are a lot of youngsters showing promise, guys that are targeting stages. You can see the Yates twins are riding high in the stages. You have a lot of youth and that comes with the fact that the sport is in a new era. The guys are getting younger, it’s a new generation which is good. We are trying to get past that older generation that was caught up in a tainted sport. It’s a generation that forutnaley does not have to succumb to the pressures the guys did before.”
The final stage of the Tour de France gets underway on Sunday.
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