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Eritrean Cyclists Merhawi Kudus and Natnael Berhane to race in Tour De France



By Gregor Brown

MILAN (VN) — Africa will send a team to the Tour de France for the first time in 2015 with South Africa’s MTN-Qhubeka receiving one of five wildcard invitations Wednesday from race organizer ASO.

France’s Bretagne-Séché Environnement, Cofidis, and Europcar, along with Germany’s Bora-Argon 18, will also race July 4-26 with the 17 UCI ProTeams.

“OK, we had Chris Froome win the 2013 Tour de France, Daryl Impey wore the yellow jersey, but to have a whole team in the Tour de France … For Africa and South Africa, it’s going to be huge,” MTN general manager Brian Smith told VeloNews. “And it’s going to happen on Nelson Mandela’s Day, on July 18.”

MTN began racing as a Pro Continental team in 2013 and raced its first grand tour in 2014, the Vuelta a España. The team aims to join the first division in 2016.

ASO announced MTN among its five wildcard second-division teams on its Twitter account. It also confirmed the 17 ProTeams with guaranteed spots in the WorldTour races.

“[MTN’s] participation in the Tour will help accelerate the progression of African cycling,” Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme told AFP.

The same 17 ProTeams were confirmed for ASO’s WorldTour stage races, Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné. For the races’ wildcard teams, ASO invited Cofidis, Europcar, and Bretagne to Pairs-Nice (March 8-15), and MTN, Bora, Cofidis, and Europcar to the Dauphiné (June 7-14).

Cofidis, Bretagne, and Bora, racing as NetApp Endura, competed on wildcard invitations in the 2014 Tour. IAM Cycling, for 2015 in the first division, was the fourth of four teams invited.

Scotland’s Smith helped beef up the mostly African squad for 2015 by signing several riders from first-division teams, including American Tyler Farrar (from Garmin-Sharp), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEdge), and Theo Bos (Belkin). When Smith met with the team in South Africa over the winter, he outlined his goal for 2015: win a classic, a stage in the Tour de France or the Vuelta a España, and one of the classification jerseys in the Tour or the Vuelta.

“The team has reinforced its youngsters with experienced riders to continue its progress,” Prudhomme said. “In recent years, people have said of Boasson Hagen that he would dominate world cycling. As for Bos, Farrar and Goss, they’re very good sprinters.”

Added Smith: “We have the riders to win a stage and compete for the green, white, or mountains jersey. I know a few people will raise eyebrows, but two years ago, riding the Tour was a big goal, and we are here now.”

Smith said his nine-man Tour team will include a handful of Africans. The Tour ride, he said, will help the team’s budding Africans like South African Louis Meintjes and Eritreans Merhawi Kudus and Natnael Berhane.

“These young Eritrean riders are the grandchildren of Coppi and Bartali,” said Prudhomme, referring to legendary Italians Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali, and to the more than 50 years of Italian occupation of the country that ended during World War II.

Said Smith: “The team is different and the Qhubeka foundation makes a difference, that’s why I took the job on. When I stood in front of them at the team camp in South Africa, I told them that I’d help them reach their goal.

“The Tour de France invitation … It’s emotional. I shed tears realizing that this team is coming along. I’ve seen how Qhubeka makes a difference in the townships. This will make the world ask, ‘What is Qhubeka?’ And it will give so much brand awareness.”

MTN-Qhubeka receives support from Africa’s telecommunications giant MTN and from electronics manufacturer Samsung, but gives Qhubeka, which means “progress” in zulu, title space in its official name. The non-profit group provides poor Africans with bicycles in exchange for good deeds, such as growing 200 trees to 30 centimeters or collecting 4,500 plastic bottles. Since 2005, it has distributed 51,000 bikes.


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Eritrean Cyclists Merhawi Kudus and Natnael Berhane to race in Tour De France Reviewed by Admin on 10:34 AM Rating: 5

20 comments:

  1. “These young Eritrean riders are the grandchildren of Coppi and
    Bartali,” said Prudhomme, referring to legendary Italians Fausto Coppi
    and Gino Bartali, and to the more than 50 years of Italian occupation of
    the country that ended during World War II.

    Man was that really necessary, he has no idea how insulting that is apperantly. Anyway the question is not when Africa will win the first yellow jersey, but which Eritrean will have that honor. My money is on Merhawi Kudus, he is by faaaar the greatest talent Eritrea has produced. What a luxury, to have Natnael Berhane and Daniel Teklehaimanot as the second and third best riders. Team Eritrea will shine in the Tour, Giro and Vuelta.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is not insulting if its taken as a good sportsmanship was it necessary to say it " no".

    ReplyDelete
  3. ProCyclingStats.com @ProCyclingStatsFollow
    Wouldn’t it be great to see @MeraKudus @TeamMTNQhubeka in @letour?

    http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider.php?id=172104 …
    7:27 PM - 14 Jan 2015

    ReplyDelete
  4. Police investigate death of Eritrean man in Dresden
    Murder investigation launched after man’s body found in German city where there have been anti-immigrant Pegida marches
    Kate Connolly in Dresden
    The Guardian, Wednesday 14 January 2015
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/14/eritrean-dresden-germany-murder-inquiry

    ReplyDelete
  5. What so ever will be the result, what is important is to participate, it's good that our champions work hard to get result and make Eritrea's name known, as we learn that they mention us very often in a negative way..
    Congratulations deki Addey..i'm sure you'll enjoy this event, we are eager to see you..ensh-allah

    ReplyDelete
  6. You couldn't resist hearing good news about Eritrea ,so you dag deep to spoil it with this merdie?hirr dea bel, we feel sad for the bad news and the loss of our brother(assuming he's Eritrean) nevertheless this didn't/doesn't and won't stop the struggle and the march will continue.
    Hirr bel Etitreans will join the tour de france while u r on the top of the beggars league.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations Natnael and Merhawi,
    Congratulations Eritrea.
    .
    An amazing achievements by hard working & talented young men from a very young nation. What else would you expect from the CAN DO NATION? Thank you Eritrean cycling federation for putting Eritrea on a cycling world map. Thank you Daniel Teklehaimanot for being the first champion of Africa and for paving the way to big events that you started in Olympics.
    .
    You have raised the level of our pride as Eritreans.
    Long Live Shaebia.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hasad buda lemani, you are trying to ruin this good news ha? Kabakume kondafat enty sibuke kisimae.

    ReplyDelete
  9. agame hasadat,

    tplf days are numbered

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-sjfn8Ux8

    ReplyDelete
  10. My question is what happen to my boy Daniel Tekle Haiwanot? , I don't see his name in the list.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Not at all, it's not an insult, it's an or enthusiasm. Besides, any reference based on valid history, should never be considered an insult but a source of knowledge.
    Eritrea was an Italian colony, Football, cycling and other modern Sport activities are inherited from the Italians.
    Coppi and Bartali are two of the best cycling Champions Italy ever had, they are remembered of winning the Tour de France several times, and to link our Champions
    Merhawi and Natnael is not only fair but a compliment and a very good omen.
    Wish our heroic champions the best of luck and success.

    ReplyDelete
  12. They are not interested in sports, they are busy in building space exploring bases like the American NASA centre in Florida. Now the incredible News from Makele is about testing long and short range missiles.
    The donor countries or We are the World musicians will have a chance to know where their money ended. The Weyane either are the foolest or the smartest in the world. Begging and envying are things of the past.

    ReplyDelete
  13. WOYANE IS BEGGING...SHABIA IS NOT....GOOD. DO U KNOW HOW MUCH EURO IS BEING DONATED TO UR ERITREA...TALK TO JAN AND THOMAS...EU REPRESENTATIVES IN ASMARA.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jerk, take it easy....What the Weyane get is the result of: 1st. For pimping and turning Ethiopia into a bordello of a Nation. 2nd. For their mercenary, Proxy wars assignments. 3rd. To Lure the impoverished Ethiopians into believing or hoping that under the Weyane leadership they would prosper or at least survive. 4th. (the top crime) To Keep Weyane in power and get the possibility to buy or lease with cheap Price the most fertile lands in Ethiopia with Weyane's guarantee to safegurd the so called Investors but who are wicked speculators from every Corner of the world. The Weyane suck about 4billion Dollars per annum.
    In Eritrea's case, what you call EU donation, is totally in contrast with the Weyan issue.
    It's a cooperation or partnership to devolop certain sectors in East Africa adopted by the EU parliament and it's a clean non secretive deal amounting about 300million Euro divided

    ReplyDelete
  15. ERITREAS BEGGING IS COOPERATION OR PARTNERSHIP,WOYANES IS BEGGING.WOYANE IS CROOKED,SHABIA IS NOBLE...SHAME ON YOU.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Double jerk, why shame on me?
    With insane People like your good self, the best approach is to avoid lengthy arguments and rely only on simple questions.
    A good deal for you:
    Ask ten of your Ethiopian friends (that is in case you have any) the following question:
    Who is noble or a crook, Shaebia or the Weyane?
    Promise that you'll not ask Weyenti but only pure Ethiopians and I hereby promise you that I will accept the verdict.
    If 60% of those polled would consider Shaebia a 'crook govt.' then I'll consider Weyane a '

    ReplyDelete
  17. DEAL,,,,,I ASSURE YOU I WILL BE HONEST AS I ALWAYS AM.

    ReplyDelete
  18. JERK INSANE.....DO U HAVE TO USE THESE WORDS? THEY WERE UNNECESSARY. BE CIVIL ..

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good you noticed, my apologies, however there are two things that qualify you as a jerk and insane.
    1. To be anti-Shaebia.
    2. You type in capital letters and that is a sign of bad manners, it alludes or is equal to shouting in a conversation,
    Go ahead with the poll and make my sunday.

    ReplyDelete

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