Dimension Data are reportedly keen to bolster their Grand Tour team as they seek to meet their goal of putting an African rider on a Grand Tour podium three years from now.

Cyclingnews spoke to Doug Ryder, the team’s manager, and he said lots of riders have been in contact with him, especially since it looks likely Tinkoff may not exist in 2017, succumbing to the fate that has already taken IAM.

“We’ve got so many. I’m amazed at the riders who want to leave some teams that you would think that they’re institutionalised in. Everyone is testing the market and testing the water,” Ryder told Cyclingnews.

“We are looking for our stage racing team to step up but to bring on a Grand Tour winner is incredibly expensive and those guys are few and far between. Those are the discussions that are going on at the moment - who do we want to look for and who do we want to retain in the team and where should we be going. The Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia will show what gaps we have in stage races of that nature.”

The team has a few riders under contract for 2017, but Ryder says he would like to offer new deals to lots of his current riders who don’t have 2017 deals and isn’t keen on making lots of changes.

“We’ve got lots of riders out of contract but we don’t like making changes, we want to knuckle down and support the guys we’ve got,” he explained. “When we bring riders into the team, we do it for a reason and we want to support them long-term. Many of our African riders are out of contract and we want to bed them down.”