Dimension Data will take over as the new title partner of Ryder Cycling, which owns and manages Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung, Africa’s only UCI Professional Continental Cycling Team. From 1 January 2016, the team’s new name will be Team Dimension Data.
The team made history this year as the first African team to compete in the Tour de France alongside five other wild-card teams. The team’s successes in the race included:
* Wearing the prestigious King of the Mountain jersey for four days on the shoulders of Eritrean rider, Daniel Teklehaimanot – the first African rider to do so;
* Stephen Cummings winning the 14th stage on Mandela Day;
* The team finishing in fifth place overall in the team competition out of a total of 22 teams; and
* Raising over 4 000 bicycles in the #BicyclesChangeLives campaign.
Team principal Douglas Ryder comments: “We are incredibly excited to have Dimension Data become our new title partner. It enables us to continue to support the development of African cycling and the Qhubeka charity at the highest levels in world cycling.
“Cycling is such a high tech sport, and we’ve leveraged technology and data through our high performance team to build the bridge from racing in Africa to competing successfully against the best in the world on the global race calendar. Partnering with Dimension Data supports us more in this area, and will also help us be more connected with our growing fan base around the world. This is the next step in our journey and we look forward to accelerating our collective ambitions through this partnership.”
Brett Dawson, Dimension Data’s Group CEO, adds: “Dimension Data is proud to become the new title partner of this amazing African team. We’re a global technology organisation, and because the team leverages technology – both on and off the bike – our joint goal is to take the team and African cycling to new heights. In addition, we want to help develop African riders into professional cyclists who will compete in some of the greatest cycling events on the African continent and across the world.”
Adam Foster, Dimension Data’s group executive: communications, who is responsible for the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) which owns the Tour de France, as well as the relationship with Ryder Cycling says: “We will work closely with Doug Ryder, his team and its other partners to provide world class infrastructure, services, and race opportunities for the team’s riders to be successful. Our partnership, combined with harnessing the power of our technologies to drive transformation within the world of cycling, will help the team accelerate their individual and collective ambitions.”
Dimension Data also confirmed it will continue to support QHubeka and World Bicycle Relief’s initiative to put more children across the African continent on bicycles, and raise funds to purchase bicycles during the period of the partnership.
Dimension Data is also the Official Technology Partner of ASO., and was responsible for processing and analysing the data collated from the riders via sensors located under their saddles at this year’s Tour de France. Through its beta live tracking site, fans were able to follow the race and their favourite riders real-time for the first time. Over five million records were processed during each of the 21 stages.