Qhubeka ASSOS may be stacked with Europeans, but its roots are still very much in Africa

If you took a glance at Africa’s top road cycling team, you might not think they were African at all.

In fact, boasting riders with names like Dimitri Claeys, Giacomo Nizzolo and Carlos Barbero, the squad is distinctly European.

When they first received a UCI World Tour licence in 2016, team principal Doug Ryder said they hoped to continue focusing on the Qhubeka charity, and they wanted to keep pushing the stagnant development of African cycling.

While the outfit has changed its brand on multiple occasions in recent years, it has visibly retained its links to Qhubeka, as is evident in the new name Team Qhubeka ASSOS.

What has been less evident is what they’ve done for the development of the sport across the continent.

The reality is that the team is very much leading a lone charge in an attempt to promote African cycling at the highest level, and the effort requires the most delicate of balancing acts.

Their need to remain competitive on the World Tour was evident in their recent struggle to secure corporate funding (after losing headline sponsor NTT) which they managed to do just in time to register for the 2021 campaign.

Ryder admits they have also battled to find sufficient local riders to represent their World Tour squad in recent years, and after losing Ryan Gibbons (their only African rider at this year’s Tour de France) the outfit will again rely largely on Europeans next season.

They have nonetheless managed to continue backing their second-tier Continental Tour team, which is used as an important stepping stone for African riders who are aiming to compete on the global circuit.

More importantly, perhaps, Ryder points out that the professional outfit has also provided many opportunities for local prospects who have been snatched up by other international teams after representing the SA squad.

So it will be another distinctly European team which represents Africa next year, as Team Qhubeka ASSOS continues to take on the heavyweights of road cycling, but the make-up of their top-flight squad is hardly reflective of what they’re achieving for the sport.

What is more crucial is that the outfit retains its place on the World Tour, as it has managed to do once again.

Whatever’s happening on the surface is not as relevant as the hard work which is being done at lower levels to ensure African riders are at least given a chance to compete against the world’s best.

They may have changed their brand, but their long-term goals haven’t changed and if you take a closer look, it turns out they are proudly African after all.

Wesley Botton.

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