Two South Africans made Tour Down Under their own

THE Santos Tour Down Under professional cycling race in Australia a week ago presented another bright opportunity for South African sport and talent to shine again.

Given that the world of cycling and triathlon is battling to recover from doping allegations, a good news story – one featuring our boys abroad – was just perfect to bring some positivity back into sport.

I refer to the brilliant performances of two South African cyclists, Daryl Impey and Nicholas Dlamini.

Impey, 33, of Mitchelton-Scott, has been with the team for just under 10 years, based in Australia.

A former Tour de France yellow jersey wearer, he has three overall wins at the tours of Turkey, Alberta and now the Santos.

He is also a multiple SA champion and won last year’s edition of the 94.7 Cycle Challenge.

Cycling followers will know that riders like Impey are not employed to win races; their jobs are that of a domestique, a rider who works for the benefit of his team and leader.

Winning races is not what we expect, but when it happens to a generally well-loved South African, we celebrate. Well done, Daryl, for making us proud.

In the same tour was Dlamini, of Team Dimension Data. Aged 22, he is from Cape Town’s Capricorn Park.

His life has not been easy.

Like many, Dlamini grew up in an environment of drugs, gangs, poverty and unemployment.

His story is similar to those of other rags-tomedals stars like Luvo Manyonga, Wayde van Niekerk and Conrad Jantjes.

This past week Dlamini went on to introduce himself to the world of cycling and did it with style, getting into a number of breaks, clearly a man with a plan.

The plan worked.

He won the overall King of the Mountains jersey of the Santos Tour 2018.

This is a moment that probably belonged to only one deserving South African but was shared with another when they both dominated the opening race of this year’s cycling calendar.

I highlight these two diverse athletes, one an experienced, well-travelled and to a degree privileged athlete, the other from a Western Cape township, sharing glory at the highest level of their sport side by side.

Dlamini and Impey got here along very different paths.

I happened to be in Cape Town in December and my host, Swim-BikeRun magazine publisher Paul Ingpen, told me an interesting story about his relationship with Dlamini.

What fascinated me was Dlamini’s character and his burning desire to do well in life.

We rode Chapman’s Peak Drive with him that day. Needless to say, I was dropped by the high-flying youngster.

That moment down Chappies just sealed it for me that talent is necessary, but will and support are that much more important.

For Nelson Mandela Bay to develop talented triathletes who could one day take over from the Kyle Buckinghams of this world, a significant amount of investment needs to go into development and less into events.

Government and federation funding should be directed towards supporting athletes with quality coaching, nutrition, education and mentoring.

Athletes also require decent equipment and race opportunities.

The Mandela Bay Development Agency has supported initiatives like iMveli and the results are showing, but more can be done.

Thank you, Zizi, for inspiring us.