The first African team to compete in the Tour de France claim their black riders have been subjected to racism and bullying in the professional peloton.
On a day when MTN-Qhubeka celebrated the first black African rider to wear a Grand Tour jersey — Daniel Teklehaimanot was in the polka dot ‘King of the Mountains’ jersey here in Le Havre — it emerged that one of their other riders was branded a ‘******’ in a corresponding professional race on Wednesday.
MTN made an official complaint to the UCI race jury at the Tour of Austria after their rider Natnael Berhane, of Eritrea, claimed he was racially abused by Branislau Samoilau, a rider from Belarus with the CCC-Sprandi-Polkowice team.
MTN bosses claimed Samoilau objected to Berhane — fourth overall in the race — passing him on the road and yelled: ‘F*** you, ******’. They asked for the Belarusian to be removed from the race, but Sportsmail understands Samoilau has instead donated a month’s salary to the Qhubeka charity by way of an apology.
But MTN officials hope the UCI — cycling’s world governing body — will act because they claim their athletes were told by other riders to ‘f*** off to the back of the bunch’ at last year’s Tour of Spain, and that ‘baboon chants’ were heard at another race in Europe this year.
MTN principal Douglas Ryder told Sportsmail: ‘Yesterday one of the riders from another team said to Natnael Berhane, “Get out of the way you effing ******”. Just outrageous.’
A CCC-Sprandi-Polkowice statement read: ‘In the heat of the battle some words have been said by our rider, which were very unfortunate and unacceptable. The rider will suffer consequences.’
The UCI had not yet returned with a comment last night. – Daily Mail