Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Omar Fraile (Caja Rural) leads the mountains classification(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Steven Cummings wins stage 14 of the 2015 Tour de France.(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Daniel Teklehaimanot and MTN-Qhubeka were a feel good story at the Tour de France in 2015(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) gives a post-race interview
Dimension Data have announced the signing of Nathan Haas and Omar Fraile for the 2016 season. The pair will join Mark Cavendish, Mark Renshaw and Bernhard Eisel who were confirmed as joining the team on Tuesday.
Fraile, 25, moves over to the team from Spanish Pro Continental outfit Caja Rural, after a hugely successful Vuelta a Espana that saw him take the mountains classification. He also took the mountains competition at the Vuelta al País Vasco and claimed victories at the Four Days of Dunkirk and the Giro dell'Appennino. The team were quick to spot his potential at the Vuelta and had him contracted before the race had reached its third week.
"I am very excited to get the chance to ride for such a well-established and international team. I have had a great year and I only can thank my current team, Yet, for my development as a rider I feel like it's time to move on. This team will help me stepping up," Fraile said in a team statement.
For Haas, Dimension Data will be only his second professional team after turning professional with Jonathan Vaughters' Garmin team in 2012. The Australian has victories at the Tour of Britain and the Herald Sun Tour to his name. He's ridden multiple Grand Tours and made his Tour de France debut this season, however he abandoned on stage 17 just after the rest day. He'll be reuniting with his former teammate Tyler Farrar, who has renewed his contract with the team.
"I'm incredibly excited to join the team because I feel it on the most inherent level represents the true Global and Worldwide reach that professional cycling is moving in," said Haas. "The team has shown to be a team that races – and truly races, not rides – at every event they participate in, and they do so with their hearts and pride on their sleeves."
"I'm proud of the opportunity to get to be a part of this team, and hopefully create opportunities for my teammates and myself that further demonstrate that racing from the hearts can win the hearts of the world. And to be back with Tyler, what can I say, he's one of my best friends in the sport and I've missed racing with him. So to be back together is just huge! He's a great captain and moral booster for any team so we are all lucky to be riding with him."
The team also announced a raft of extensions including Eritreans Daniel Teklehaimanot and Merhawi Kudus, who had been linked with a move away from the team. South African champion Jacques Janse van Rensburg and sprinter Reinardt Janse van Rensburg will remain with the team as will Edvald Boasson Hagen, Steve Cummings, Farrar and Serge Pauwels.
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All three have played key roles for the team with Cummings earning the South African outfits first Grand Tour stage win at the Tour de France, while Boasson Hagen has enjoyed some late season success by winning the Tour of Britain.
Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.
