Christopher Froome has won the Tour de France again. After three weeks of thrills, spills and running up Mont Ventoux, the Nairobi-born-Joburg-schooled Brit‘s dominance has once again opened up many discussion on the “hows” and “whys” and “whats.” Online forums are abuzz not to mention social media platforms.
But that is a separate topic with gazillions of discussion, conjecture and debate in and around cyberspace. More pertinent - for me at least - is the rise of African cycling, not only through Froome’s third Le Tour crown, but also by the fact that that seven African riders rolled across the Champs-Elysées intact. It wasn’t that long ago that a lone African rider in Robbie Hunter made up our continent’s entire Grande Boucle compliment, and before him, well, nobody. African cycling has certainly come a long way, especially considering its “backwater” status as far as the mainstream professional category goes.
Froome’s life story is well known. Perhaps less well known is that both him and Daryl Impey were participants and protagonists in now-defunct South African stage race many, many years ago.
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Signal Hill is a well-known tourist spot for visitors to Cape Town. Spectacular views of the Mother City abound on the flat-topped hill, which is dwarfed by the imposing Lion’s Head and flanked by the world-famous Table Mountain. The car park at the top of this feature is always busy – sightseers, tour busses and the like are aplenty.
For many years, this same car park was host to the finish of the hill-climb time trial stage of the Giro del Capo. From 1992-2010, the “Giro” became South Africa’s premier stage race after the demise of the Rapport and Boland Bank Tours. The field was always eclectic, what with track and mountain bike squads from all corners of the globe complementing the road racing teams.
Last week I tweeted that Chris Froome and Daryl Impey had a training ride for Le Tour’s uphill test to Megève. More tongue-and-cheek than underlining actual credentials or ability, my motivation served to draw awareness to a historical fact. Suffice to say that this fact was taken out of context in some quarters but that’s OK – at least a lesser-known piece of trivia is no longer obscure! And the Giro del Capo is on the map too, so all is good.
One look at the 2007 edition’s General Classification (GC) makes interesting reading: Froome is in sixth place overall and further down the list appears the name of one Daryl Impey. Further inspection sees a few more names currently part and parcel of the World Tour: Peter and Martin Velits; Jaco Venter; Jay Thomson; Jacques Janse Van Rensburg. Heck, even Rio-bound and regular ABSA Cape Epic stage winner Rudi Van Houts is in there too, the Dutch mountain bike ace using the event as a tune up for his maiden “Epic” that year.
Back to Froome and Impey: both were in their early twenties at the time and both were riding for South African-based squads. Impey had just returned home after a season or two spent in the toughest of breeding grounds: the French amateur cycling circuit. I don’t really want to go back to France as an amateur, he said, when quizzed by a TV presenter as to why exactly he’d returned to South Africa. Prophetic words perhaps as both he and Froome were snapped up by the expanding Barloworld squad for 2008. Konica-Minolta and MTN-Energade were domestic teams that concentrated on the local circuit with occasional forays overseas, the latter being the nucleus of what is the Team Dimension Data of today. Konica-Minolta was one of South Africa’s longest-standing pro teams, owned and managed by the experienced and savvy John Robertson.
Much has been made of Froome’s formative cycling years and seemingly sudden prominence. It is important to remember, though, that a lot of water has flowed under the bridge from his signing with Team Barloworld to his current “extra-terrestrial” status. Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummings were alongside Froome in the red-and-yellow kit, as were Impey and the precocious talent of John-Lee Augustyn.
The fact that these guys have gone on to mainstream pro careers is impressive, especially given the fact that so many Africans have tried and failed over the years. The odds of “making it” in Europe are often insurmountable.
Team Barloworld made their mark while still in existence and seems that their legacy is continuing, what the results of today. A photo of Thomas on social meeting asks the question if all the riders on Barloworld were fat – fair comment at face value but then fresh-faced neo-pros do evolve into hardened journey after a year or three.
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It is the day after La Grande Boucle and life has returned to normal. Much discussion and reflection is bound to abound after the three week pedaling soap opera around France. Chris Froome is no doubt thinking of Olympic glory Rio as is Daryl Impey. But first there is the matter of the Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian this Saturday - for Impey at least - before jetting off to Brazil for national duty. Major factors in big races in faraway places.
And back in 2007, who would have thought as much?
