Team MTN-Qhubeka raced to second place in the Tour de France standings – giving Africa hope that its first Tour de France representatives may go all the way.

Stephen Cummings ended stage 14 in first place with Daniel Teklehaimanot, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Serge Pauwels upping the ante during stage 16 – putting team MTN-Qhubeka second behind Movistar in the general classification standings.

Under the individual TDF time classification MTN-Qhubeka has been represented with stellar times by Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Louis Meintjies and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg.

Chris Froome from Team Sky has been dominating the race in his yellow jersey, but had to fend off doping allegations. Team Sky’s head of performance, Tim Kerrison, revealed some of Froome’s data to put the allegations to rest.

Team MTN-Qhubeka

Team MTN-Qhubeka hail’s from South Africa. Founded in 1997 by professional cyclist, Douglas Ryder, the team is sponsored by telecoms operator MTN and Qhubeka, a foundation that provides bicycles for the underprivileged.

Expectations weren’t that high for this wild card squad in the TDF, but after scoring their first victory in Stage 6 with Teklehaimanot claiming the King of the Mountains jersey, they showed the world that they’re truly a team to be reckoned with.  This was reiterated by their first group victory headed up by Steve Cummings on ex-president Nelson Mandela’s birthday.

Image: Flowizm via Flickr.