WE GO AGAIN
KEVIN McCALLUM: Trio follow in tracks of Giro trailblazer Van Heerden
Alan van Heerden became the first South African to win a stage at the Giro d’Italia, three of his countrymen will be on the start line of the race that starts on Friday
Thirty-eight years after Alan van Heerden became the first South African to win a stage at the Giro d’Italia, three of his countrymen will be on the start line for the 100th running of the race that starts on Friday. Ryan Gibbons, Jacques Janse van Rensburg and Johann van Zyl of Team Dimension Data are the latest in a growing list of South Africans and Africans who have ridden the Giro. It has been a list that is growing slowly. Nine South Africans have ridden the Giro. Robbie Hunter took part in it four times, winning a stage, the team time trial in 2012.Daryl Impey rode it for Orica-GreenEdge in 2012, while Jay Thompson, Jaco Venter, Songezo Jim and Van Zyl were the South Africans included when Dimension Data made their debut in the 2016 Giro. Team Dimension Data have been at the forefront of pushing Africans in the Grand Tours, with five Africans in their nine-man line-ups for the 2016 and 2017 tours of Italy. Only Hunter was born when Van Heerden won his stage. The 1979 win shoc...
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