Cycling
KweséESPN staff 6y

Africa's Team name Cavendish to lead Tour de France charge

Cycling

British sprinter Mark Cavendish will lead Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka's eight-rider team for the 105th Tour de France.

Africa's Team have also named powerful sprinter Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and workhorse Jay Thomson as the only riders from the continent as support acts for Cavendish during the three-week Grand Tour starting on 7 July.

Cavendish, who has won 30 stages of the event, will make his 12th start in Le Tour and will be hoping to add to that tally after what has been a testing season with bad luck and injuries -- across the entire squad.

"I'm so excited to be able to ride the Tour de France again in my career, for the third time in Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka colours," Cavendish said in a team press release.

The 33-year-old comes into the race after most recently featuring at the Adriatica Ionica Race and will be in Northumberland on Sunday competing at the British Nationals before heading to France.

"The Tour de France is not only the biggest cycling event on the planet but it's one of the biggest sporting events on the planet; and it's the best platform to get across what we as Team Dimension Data do for our charity Qhubeka, to get people in rural parts of Africa on bicycles.

"I'm excited to be part of a strong team and I'll be looking at getting closer to that record (34) of Eddie Merckx."

Apart from Janse van Rensburg in his sprint train and Thomson to lead the team through the unglamorous long kilometres, Cavendish will also have long-time teammate Australian Mark Renshaw (who will be riding the race for the 10th time) and Julien Vermote largely allocated to his efforts during this year's Tour.

Renshaw has been Cavendish's right-and man for the majority of his biggest wins and usually Bernhard Eisel would the Manxman's other leadout lieutenant. However, the Austrian's continued recovery from surgery has opened up a place for Belgium's Vermote - one of the team's key signings for 2018. Vermote, who has ridden the last three editions of the race for the Quick-Step team, will be crucial in the first week in particular that sees a number of opportunities to contest sprint finishes.

Edvald Boasson Hagen who was the team's standout performer in 2017, securing a handful of podium finishes including victory on stage 19, will start his eighth Tour de France. The current Norwegian time trial champion will be relied on to use his Puncheur-like experience on sprint stages when Cavendish and his rivals might be undone by hills in the run-up to the finish.

"I'm really excited to be named in the team for the Tour de France this year. I look forward to the start and am feeling fully prepared for the event ahead," he said.

Despite the absence of a pure General Classification candidate like Louis Meintjes, Africa's Team will be able to count on Serge Pauwels to ride well in the mountains, and seize on any opportunity to claim a stage win when the 'mountain goats' nullify each other. The 34-year-old Belgian will ride his 4th consecutive Tour de France having, has finished in the top 20 twice in the last three years and been in strong form this year having finished 3rd at the Tour de Yorkshire.

The final member of the squad will be Dutchman Tom-Jelte Slagter, who like Vermote will make his Tour debut in the team's colours. Nonetheless, and apart from his strong performances at the Tour de Suisse, La Fleche Wallonne and early in the season at the Tour Down Under, the 28-year also has seven Grand Tours under his belt and his nous as a Super Domestique will be key.

Full line-up: Mark Cavendish, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Serge Pauwels, Mark Renshaw, Tom-Jelte Slagter, Jay Thomson, Julien Vermote

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