How the South Africans fared at the 2019 Tour de France

Egan Bernal clinched victory in the 2019 Tour de France on Sunday, becoming the first Colombian winner of cycling’s greatest prize and its youngest in more than a century.

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• Tour de France 2019: Latest classification standings
• Rider bunny hops to avoid crash
• The 2019 riders ranked from youngest to oldest

South Africa and Africa, though, will have to wait a while longer for their own history. It was mixed Tour for riders from the continent.

The 2019 Tour de France featured three African riders, two of which are from South Africa. Daryl Impey is a familiar face on the big stage while Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Natnael Berhane also have Tour de France experience.

Team Dimension Data aka “Africa’s Team” also had a tough Tour. Despite high expectations, they didn’t manage a single stage win. They finished 16th on the team rankings overall.

Here, we take a brief look at each cyclist’s TdF history and where they stand in their respective careers ahead of this year’s tour.

Daryl Impey (South Africa)

Easily the highest profile African cyclist at the 2019 Tour de France, Impey’s highest General Classification finish to date was 38th in 2016. A former team-mate of Lance Armstrong at RadioShack, Impey also boasts the honour of having been the first South African to don the yellow jersey — albeit briefly in 2013.

Team: Mitchelton-Scott
Stage wins: None (but won a team time trial on the fourth stage in 2013)
Finish in 2018: 46th

Result in 2019: One stage win, finished 72nd overall and 31st in the mountains classificaiton.

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (South Africa)

The Free State-born rider made his Tour de France debut in 2015 and has competed every year since. He was part of a Dimension Data team which made headlines for the exclusion of Mark Cavendish from the Tour.

Team: Team Dimension Data
Stage wins: None
Finish in 2018: 110th

Result in 2019: Finished 124th overall.

Natnael Berhane (Eritrea)

At 28 years of age, Berhane is heading into what will only be his second Tour de France. The Eritrean national champion will be looking to fly the flag for his country and improve on his 125th place finish in 2016.

Team: Cofidis
Stage wins: None
Finish in 2018: Did Not Compete

Result in 2019: Finished 86th overall and 23rd in the mountains classification.