WE GO AGAIN
KEVIN MCCALLUM: Meintjes’s return adds Dimension to SA’s Tour hopes
What a South African story that would be
Almost two years ago, somewhere in Spain, shortly after it had been announced Louis Meintjes was to leave the team now known as Dimension Data, Brian Smith, the squad’s manager, predicted that the man from Rustenburg would come "home". "I wished him luck … I said to him: ‘Look, I know that you’ll be back in a couple of years and you’ll win the Tour de France for us’," said Smith, who has since left Dimension Data. On Monday, Meintjes said he would indeed be returning and his aim was, indeed, to win the Tour de France. Team principal Doug Ryder backed this up. Winning the Tour de France by 2020 with Meintjes was the plan, he said on Monday. A South African on a South African team with a real chance of being on the podium of the grandest of the three Grand Tours. What a grand dream.Meintjes’ departure from what was then MTN-Qhubeka took the team by surprise. It was during the Vuelta a Espana. Meintjes was sitting in 12th overall, he had all but agreed to re-sign with the South African...
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