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Tour de France 2015 Stage 17 Pra Loup finish line Daniel Teklehaimanot climbs the final metres of the race.(GodingImages)

When the MTN-Qhubeka team arrived at this years Tour de France in Utrecht they were, initially, little more than a curiosity. Not that much was expected of the African team, even if their gifted Eritrean climber, 27 year old Daniel Teklehaimanot, had already won the King of the Mountains classification in Junes tough Alpine race, the Criterium du Dauphine.

But African cycling is coming of age. Of course the most famous cyclist to emerge from the Rift Valley is a white man  Kenyan born Chris Froome  but his success is fuelling an African passion for cycling that could yet change the sport.

Even so, MTN could not have dreamed up the scenario that became a reality at the climax of stage 14 to Mende  Mandela Day  when Steve Cummings, a boy from the Wirral of all places, came up trumps to give the African team their first-ever Tour stage win. For many race followers, if was the most romantic and spectacular moment of the race.

Perhaps the spirit of Madiba was pushing Cummings on, but when the journeyman professional raced to the top of the final climb and sped past the stunned breakaway pair of French hopes, Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot, it did seem too good to be true. The team were even wearing specially designed Mandela Day helmets to mark the anniversary.



Jacques Jansevan Rensburg outside his team bus wearing his South African champions jersey.(GodingImages)

Yet this stage win was no fluke. Cummings is a former winner of the Tour of the Mediterranean stage race and has also bagged a stage win in the Tour of Spain. Managed by canny Scot Brian Smith, a former British national road race champion, MTN had also already won one of the longest one day Classics in cycling Milan-San Remo.

On Thursday, the team lost their first rider, Louis Meintjes, who succumbed to a stomach bug after his crash on stage 15. But MTN are putting the emphasis on the collective and are currently in second place overall in the Tours team standings.

For a team making its Tour debut, MTN have had a presence in most of the stage-defining breakaways that are a characteristic of the Tour. That high-profile had been achieved on an annual budget of about ten million euros, which compares with Team Skys estimated 30 million euros.

But this is professional cycling and there has, almost inevitably, been a dark side. While most teams have welcomed the team to the peloton, there have been some unsavoury moments of racism against them, with one of MTNs riders being abused in the recent Tour of Austria.

Team founder Douglas Ryder, who put the issue to rest for now after an apology was made to MTN by the rider involved, said: "We are just really proud to show that African cycling belongs on the European circuit. This is not a European sport. Its for the whole world and its amazing that we are here and can show the performance of the riders and how good they are."

Now there are just three more stages remaining in the 2015 Tour  two summit finishes and the now traditional sprint finish on the Champs Elysees. Can MTN-Qhubeka touch glory just one more time? "We still want to win another stage," Ryder said. "We feel we can still do something in the mountains. Were present and were up there."



Stephen Cummings and Norwegian National Road Race Champion Edvald Boasson Hagen go for atraining rideon their rest day in Gap.(GodingImages)



Tour de France 2015 Stage 17 Pra Loup finish line Serg Pauwels team MTN Qhubeka is helped up the final stretch of the mountain by a team soigneur and tour organisation personnel.(GodingImages)



Stage 14 Stephen Cummings wins the stage in a sprint finish ahead ofThibaut Pinot and Romain Bardetclaiming his firstTour stage winfor African squad MTN-Qhubeka.(GodingImages)

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