Daniel Teklehaimanot wins first ever World Tour jersey

The completion of the final Criterium du Dauphine stage brought with it a tremendous amount of joy for Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung as Daniel Teklehaimanot would win the King of the Mountians polka dot jersey, our African team’s first ever World Tour leaders jersey.

Starting the day with an unsurpassable lead, Daniel only needed to make sure he reached the finish line in Modane Valfrejus today, to secure the coveted climbers jersey. The stage would work out better than planned for MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung though as Steve Cummings would make the 13 rider break of the day. Steve would go on to be the strongest of the attackers today as he was the sole surviving escapee when the race hit the final 8.4km climb.

With a 1 minute lead Steve began the final climb. Surprisingly Team Astana decided to set the pace on the lower slopes of the climb, halving Steve’s advantage before fading away. Steve dug really deep after being on the attack for 150km but he was unfortunately caught at 2.5km to go when Chris Froome (Team Sky) put in his race winning attack. Froome rode to the stage and overall GC win ahead of Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing).

After Steve’s monumental effort today, the smiles in the MTN-Qhubkea p/b Samsung camp only got broader as Daniel made his way up the final climb to cross the line with the polka dot jersey secure on his shoulders. The jersey would be the sure highlight of an incredible week which also saw brilliant stage performances by Louis Meintjes, Edvald Boasson Hagen and the entire team in general.