Robert Hunter said he hopes his history making win at the Tour de France on Thursday will result in greater professional opportunities for young riders from South Africa.

Hunter became the first African rider to win a stage at the Tour de France when he launched a long, ambitious drive for the finish line which beat Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara and Brazilian Murilo Fischer on the 11th stage. The win was also his Barloworld team’s second victory of this Tour.

It was Hunter's biggest career win and comes less than a week after he had come a close second to Norwegian Thor Hushovd in the fourth stage.

"I don't think I could be any happier," said Hunter, who came round the bend at the 250 meters marker and began his drive to the finish line almost immediately. "It's a massive victory for me, and for South Africa."

Hunter is one of the most consistent sprinters in the tough European racing scene, although his only other stage wins in a major three-week Tour to date were stage wins on the 1999 and 2001 Tour of Spain.

It seemed ironic that, after seven years of being with top-flight teams and on his sixth Tour de France start, the 30-year-old's first stage victory came with Barloworld.

The British-registered/South African flavored team, who usually race in Europe's Continental division, won a wildcard to this year's Tour - and Hunter has been desperate to vindicate that decision.

"For us to come to the biggest bike race in the world and win two stages shows that we deserve respect," said Hunter, whose teammate Juan Mauricio Soler won the final stage in the Alps on Tuesday. "We're second in the points competition, second in the mountains classification and not many ProTour teams have done better than that."

Hunter signed for Barloworld at the start of the season following Phonak's collapse in the wake of American Floyd Landis's positive test for testosterone on last year's Tour de France.

And he feels that plenty of his young countrymen should be given the backing that would show the European-dominated professional scene that they can race at their level.

"Cycling in South Africa is a really big sport at amateur level. A lot of people race, but the problem is that there's not enough put into bringing it up to the level (that is raced) in Europe," he added. "I'm hoping something like this will boost the sport in South Africa, to get more young riders up to the level in Europe. There are so many young riders who could have so much potential."

And in the light of the doping affairs from which cycling has suffered of late, Hunter was unequivocal - the sport's fight against drugs cheats is going in the right direction.

"At the end of the day, cycling is the most controlled sport in the world. The digger you deep, the more you're going to find," he said. "The majority of people think other sports don't have a problem (with doping), but if you had to look into other sports you would find cheats. I'm confident cycling is cleaning up, and is going to be the one sport that's fighting against doping the most effectively. I can only hope that it continues in the future."