South African Stefan de Bod will make his WorldTour debut at the Tour of Turkey, which starts in Istanbul on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old will be looking for guidance from his fellow Dimension Data teammates when he tackles the six-stage tour for the first time.
The African time-trial champion will be joined by fellow countrymen Jaco Venter and Ryan Gibbons, as well as Ben O’Connor, Mark Cavendish, Mark Renshaw and Scott Davies.
South Africa’s Stefan de Bod, pictured here during the African Continental Road Champs, will make his WorldTour debut at the Tour of Turkey. Photo: Stiehl Photography
“Stefan de Bod is a really good prospect and he finally makes his debut on the WorldTour, so he’s now finally able to see what it’s going to take to be successful at this level,” said the team’s head of performance Rolf Aldag.
O’Connor said Turkey would be a great race for them to be “super competitive” and perhaps take some race wins in the sprints.
“Along with that, personally I would love to change my luck and aim once again for a really strong overall result.”
This race also forms part of O’Connor’s final preparation for the Giro d’Italia.
