MOBILISING A NATION

Douglas Ryder is team principal of MTNQhubeka, the African team formed in 2007 which now races at Pro Continental level. Ryder is a 42-year-old South African, whose own race career was cut short by ‘competing against the supercharged athletes of the 90s’. He’s charming, thought-provoking and focused, but throughout our interview he’s frequently distracted by his laptop. ‘Sorry, but we find out today if we’ve made it into the Vuelta a Espana. The guys are so excited, and it would soften the blow if we get in because not all the African riders on our roster will be heading to Utrecht [for the start of the Tour de France].’

Later Ryder finds out that his team is indeed to be given a wildcard entry to the Vuelta this August, making it two Grand Tours out of three, after the ASO (the organisers of the Tour de France) confirmed in mid-january that Mtn-qhubeka would become the first African team to compete at the Tour. ‘We’ve worked hard for 10 years for this. When I started this project, many thought I was smoking some cheap herb. They said an African team would never make it. Thank God I didn’t listen to them.’

In July this year, MTNQhubeka will become the first African team to race in the Tour de France. We head to their European base near Pisa to discover what it means to the team, and a whole continent

Fast track to the Tour

Strictly speaking, the Barloworld team, who had Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas in their ranks, were sponsored by a South African company and raced the 2007 and