Tour de Yorkshire #1: Cummings tries late escape, Pauwels 6th on GC
Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka show positive intent on stage 1 in Yorkshire
Dylan Groenwegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) won the opening stage of the Tour de Yorkshire from a mass sprint. Caleb Ewan (Orica-Greenedge) placed 2nd and 3rd place went the way of Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin).
It was a cold and gloomy start to the Tour de Yorkshire as riders left Beverley with the temperature not that much more than a few degrees above zero. 6 riders got into the early move of the day and Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka, along with Team Sky, took control of the peloton.
Bernie Eisel, our African Team's road captain, martialled the troops well and spent a large amount of time on the front of the peloton controlling the gap to the break. As the race ploughed straight into a headwind for most of the day, there was always this sense of nervousness as with a slight change of wind direction the crosswinds had the potential to decimate the peloton. This would not materialise though and the break was caught with a little over 20km to go, thanks to a great job by our African Team.
Most teams were then focused on a sprint finish but Steve Cummings was not going to make it that easy for them. In what is becoming trademark fashion now, Cummings jumped away with around 5km to go just moments after 2 other riders tried their luck too. Cummings quickly caught and passed the duo that were ahead and went in pursuit of the finish line, solo. LottoNL-Jumbo and Orica-Greenedge had to commit fully to the chase as Cummings put down the power.
While this tactic has worked for Cummings a number of times in the past, today he would be caught with 1.5km to go. The sprint then followed and LottoNL-Jumbo's work paid off as their sprinter took the win in Settle. While our African Team didn't have a rider finish in the top 10 on the stage, Serge Pauwels showed great awareness to take a bonus second at an intermediate sprint with 10km to go. This meant our Belgian ended the stage in 6th place on the General Classification. Unfortunately, Nic Dougall wasn't able to finish today's stage due to an Achilles tendon strain.
Serge Pauwels - Rider
The weather made it a hard race today. It was very cold and rainy, and there was a headwind all day. Steve played his card in the final to try and win the stage but unfortunately he did not succeed. I was able to take a bonus second at an intermediate sprint near the finish, so we look forward to this weekend's stages.
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 #BicyclesChangeLives Campaign, 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.
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