From this Saturday South Africans can turn their minds from Al-Bashir, Marikana, load-shedding and other pressing national issues to celebrate some remarkable achievements in one of the world’s premier sporting events.
On Saturday the Tour de France kicks off in Utrecht, Holland, with an individual time trial. Amid the ranks of the world’s best teams will be the distinctive black-and-white stripes of MTN Qhubeka, with three South Africans in its ranks and the first African-registered team to get a place in the Tour.
Meanwhile, road cycling’s showpiece event has also taken a leaf out of the Absa Cape Epic’s book by signing Dimension Data as its official technology partner.
“We at the Absa Cape Epic are delighted to see that the excellent services provided by Dimension Data, a company with South African roots, have been recognised by the Tour de France,” said the race’s Marketing and Communication manager Sarah Haigh. “Dimension Data’s team was outstanding at this year’s event and they will blow away the Tour de France organisers.”
“And we will be shouting long and hard for MTN Qhubeka’s three South Africans and two Eritreans,” she added. “It is an amazing achievement just getting to the Tour de France and we are sure they will do us proud over the three weeks of the event.”
The South Africans are continental champion Louis Meintjes, national champion Jacques Janse van Rensburg, and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg.
They will be joined by the two Eritreans, Daniel Teklehaimanot and Merhawi Kudus.
“In 2014 Qhubeka was selected as one of the three official charity partners of the Absa Cape Epic,” said Haigh. “We’re happy to be associated with a charity which does such great work, and hope that the team’s participation in the Tour creates even more awareness of it.”
Qhubeka donates bicycles in return for work done to improve communities, the environment or academic results. “Having a bicycle changes lives by increasing the distance a person can travel, what they can carry, where they can go and how fast they can get there,” it says.
This year Dimension Data joined the Absa Cape Epic sponsor family as its official technology partner and provided an outstanding service for the event. At the recent Absa Cape Epic Sponsor Awards it won the best debut sponsorship and best activation by a sponsor category. It went on to be awarded the prestigious Founder’s Award, a special award presented by race founder Kevin Vermaak
Vermaak said the connectivity provided by Dimension Data had played a significant role in reducing staff stress levels at the even and paid tribute to the company’s planning before the event and then the service delivered during it. Vermaak added that the levels of connectivity had been hailed by other sponsors and “contributed to the whole brand experience at the Absa Cape Epic”.
The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), owners of the Tour de France, signed a five-year deal that will see Dimension Data become the Official Technology Partner on cycling events including the Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, la Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Tour de Yorkshire, Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour de France, la Vuelta a España and the Paris-Tours.
Christian Prudhomme, the Tour de France director, said: “Dimension Data’s purpose is to ‘Accelerate your Ambition’. Ours is to provide our cycling fans around the world with concise, reliable information on the Tour de France and all our other races by enhancing the content of our TV broadcast and our supporting digital platforms.
“Cycling is exciting and complex, and deserves to benefit from the latest technologies to reveal all aspects of the sport. Our partnership with Dimension Data will help us deliver our ambition and take our cycling fans and spectators on a journey into the heart of the race and cycling in the future.”
The 2015 Tour de France will be the 102nd edition of the Tour de France. It is scheduled to start in Utrecht, Netherlands, on 4 July 2015, and will finish in Sèvres at Paris on 26 July.
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