MTN-Qhubeka is already focusing on the next season. The African team told Cyclingnews about its main goals for 2016. According to general manager Doug Ryder, the team will try to win the first Tour de France stage in July and maybe the first overall classification.
"All the possibilities are there and we'll try to win more stages because we don't have a GC rider. At the moment, I think that we'll have the same strategy as we did this year, to race aggressively and to be visible and to go for a jersey", the manager explained. "To have a rider stand on the Champs Elysees at the end in front of the whole world with our brand, after hard three weeks of racing and lots of commitment and sacrifice, I don't think there would be a dry eye across the whole African continent and to the team that would be significant. Our progression would be so unbelievable, that would be amazing. It's an objective for sure."
With the signing of Mark Cavendish, the future Dimension Data team has a chance to win the green jersey in the next Tour de France. "Wouldn't that be nice with Dimension Data and the green. It would be fantastic, it would be unbelievable. Potentially with Merhawi (Kudus) we could go for the young rider's jersey, that's a possibility."
Some people have criticized that they have turned their focus away from the original goal of improving African cycling. "For me they're both as equally as important as each other because it's all about the visibility and the potential and the commitment that every rider has made. For us it would be exactly the same because the team moves forward and that generates massive exposure and more revenue and interest in African cycling. You don't want to have happen as what happened to Colombia Coldeportes (who were forced to disband due to lack of funding)."
"It's our dream that an African rider will stand on the podium, either wearing a jersey or because they're a Grand Tour podium rider, we believe that will happen in the next three to five years."
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