Giro efforts satisfy team

Local outfit Dimension Data admitted they were already celebrating on Sunday, while the lead contenders battled for supremacy on the final stage of the classic annual contest, after making their presence felt throughout the Giro d’Italia.

“The final 29km individual time trial stage was never going to favour our seven (remaining) riders and so the day became one of celebrating our success over the past thee weeks,” the team said in a statement after the race.

“There is much our African team can be happy about ... our riders rode with positive intent on a daily basis, animating the race, and it showed through all the various classifications.”

The South African-registered squad secured 12 top-eight stage finishes at the 100th edition of the race, led by South African prospect Ryan Gibbons who finished among the top eight on a total of six sprint stages on his Grand Tour debut.

Spanish rider Omar Fraile (above) snatched a spectacular victory on stage 11 to cap the team’s solid effort, while Eritrean Daniel Teklehaimanot and Fraile both wore the King of the Mountains (KOM) jersey.

Fraile ended third overall in the climbers’ division and Teklehaimanot won the intermediate sprint classification.

South African rider Jacques Janse van Rensburg was the squad’s first finisher in the overall standings, ending 36th in the general classification (GC) though he was nearly two hours behind Dutch winner Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb).

“We achieved everything we set out to do and more,” said Dimension Data sport director Oliver Cookson.

“Tactically we had to manage our goals carefully considering what the GC riders might do each day, but I think we got the best out of our riders at the Giro.”

The team also confirmed they had raised donations for a total of 128 bikes for girls in Africa during the race, as part of a Qhubeka charity drive through the #Giro100bikes campaign.

Tactically we had to manage our goals carefully considering what the GC riders might do each day. Oliver Cookson