Steve Cummings secures Tour de France ride with MTN-Qhubeka

Steve Cummings will make a return to the Tour de France this summer, three years after his last appearance with BMC in 2012.

The Merseyside-born rider is part of the nine-man MTN-Qhubeka squad revealed on Tuesday, which features five African riders.

In 2012 Cummings helped both Tejay van Garderen and Cadel Evans to top-10 finishes in the general classification behind winner, Bradley Wiggins.

He rode the Tour for Team Sky in 2010 alongside Edvald Boassen Hagen, another rider named in the 2015 squad for MTN-Qhubeka.

The African riders include Reinardt and Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Louis Meintjes, Merhawi Kudus and Criterium du Dauphiné king of the mountains winner Daniel Teklehaimanot.

American Tyler Farrar also returns after a three-year absence from the race and Belgian Serge Pauwels rounds out the nine-man squad.

Team principal Doug Ryder said: "The squad selected is perfect for the event this year consisting of specialist climbers, classics type riders, time trial lists and riders that can spend hours riding in the breakaways going for stage wins.

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"All 23 riders and all staff in the team have worked incredibly hard to get this amazing squad of riders ready for our biggest challenge ever.

"This is our chance to open the door for African cycling and to race for a greater cause to mobilise 5.000 African students on bicycles."