South African mountain king Nicholas Dlamini’s creating history of his own at Tour Down Under
MAKING his UCI WorldTour debut for Dimension Data, Nicholas Dlamini is following some big names in forging a reputation for himself on the roads of South Australia.
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NICHOLAS Dlamini claiming the polka dot jersey at stage 1 and 2 of the Tour Down Under created another slice of history at the race which has seen many fly under the radar before asserting themselves on the world stage.
Peter Sagan is a classic example — nobody knew his potential in 2010 — so too was Australia’s only Tour de France champion Cadel Evans when he rode for the first time in SA in 1999 — the first event.
Making his UCI WorldTour debut for Dimension Data, Dlamini, 22, is the first known South African representing the people of Capricorn Park settlement near Muizenberg in the city of Cape Town to wear the King of the Mountain jersey.
He won his first king of the mountain jersey on Tuesday ahead of Australia’s Will Clarke at Humbug Scrub.
He beat Clarke again at Range Road North Tea Tree Gully on Wednesday to keep the jersey on his back for at least the completion of Thursday’s Glenelg to Victor Harbor stage.
His two KOM’s is hardly surprising to the peloton after the young South African last year won the mountains classification at the Giro Ciclistico D’Italia — a world class under-23 event — and a first win for an African.
He is regarded as the next best thing after Irish cycling legend Steven Roche discovered Dlamini’s power in an amateur road race when he was 17.
It’s hard to imagine that Dlamini could not afford a race bike or proper kit when he joined a junior cycling club back home before working his way up the ladder.
“I came from a small town outside of Cape Town and I’m grateful to get this opportunity with the world’s best cyclists,’’ he said.
“I started on the bike when I was 12 actually and I joined a small cycling club that year and they just gave me a bike and kit and I didn’t have to buy my own bike.
“I couldn’t afford it at the time.
“It was nice getting that and from there I kept on working hard and a couple of years later I was riding at another level.”
Now Dlamini has his eyes set on winning the overall polka dot jersey come Sunday.
Dlamini says he is also a competent sprinter but he is still learning the ropes in keeping safe in the bunch before winding up at breakneck speed for a fast finish.
“The goal this year is to learn as much as possible and get as much experience from the other guys,’’ he said.
“If I can nip a win somewhere we’ll see, hopefully also next year I’ll be focusing more on the winning side and getting more jerseys.”
With Dlamini confident of doing so much more at this race, he has plenty of teammates in his team in SA that can encourage the South African to trust his winning instincts.
Dlamini looks up to Dutchman Tom-Jelte Slatger, who won overall Tour Down Under honours in 2013 with Australians Mark Renshaw, 35, — a two-time stage winner in SA — and Lachlan Morton, 26, sure to be calming influences.
“It’s always nice getting recognition and always trying to do my best and also being involved with the team last year where I have role models and I’m close to them,’’ Dlamini said.
“I’ve always wanted to do this race and being the 20th edition of it is something special and being my first WorldTour is also really special for me and being able to get the jersey is just the cream on top.”
“Hopefully I can keep it throughout the while tour that’s the plan.
“The race is full of attacks and I want to get more points.”
Originally published as South African mountain king Nicholas Dlamini’s creating history of his own at Tour Down Under