Tsgabu Grmay and Ramūnas Navardauskas are the new riders who have been confirmed to be part of Bahrain-Merida.

Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay, 25 years of age, is an Ethiopian road cyclist. He is a two-time National Road Race Champion, two time National Time Trial Champion, and one time African Time Trial Champion. In 2013 Gramy became the first Ethiopian to win an international cycling event when he won the fifth stage of the Tour de Taiwan. He made his UCI World Tour debut at the 2013 at Giro di Lombardia. In 2015 he started the Giro d’Italia, becoming the first Ethiopian rider to compete in a Grand Tour. In the same year, he won the Ethiopian national championship in both road and time trial events for the third time in his career. He was also selected for the Vuelta a Espana. A

fter signing the contract Grmay commented: “First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for this opportunity - I am really happy and lucky to be a part of this great new team. I can hardly wait to start my session with the team and I am 100% ready to give my best.”

General Manager of BAHRAIN MERIDA Team, Brent Copeland added:

“Tsgabu has to be one of the most promising young climbers from Africa, he is a rider that brings completeness to the team. Tsgabu has finished every single World Tour race that he has raced during the last two seasons, an incredible accomplishment which not many riders can say they have done. Tsgabu has made big improvements in the past few years and is a true professional and even though he has increased his capability so much, we at BAHRAIN MERIDA believe that he still has margin of improvement and we will go out of our way to offer him everything he needs to better this improvement. He is a rider who dedicates himself 100% to his job, whether that is racing for his captain or going in breaks which is something he seems to accomplish with great ease. We are very pleased with him joining the team. Having a rider from the continent of Africa shows the importance of making this great team an international team. We are looking forward to seeing him doing what he knows best on the climbs around the world.”

Ramūnas Navardauskas at his age of 28 is a Lithuanian professional rider cyclist who has been with UCI Pro teams for eight years. In April 2015, Navardauskas won the Circuit de la Sarthe. He was National Road Race Champion 2007 and 2011 and he confirmed his dominance this year.In  2012, 2014 and 2015 he was a National Time Trial Champion. He is very experienced classics rider and will be a huge help for the BAHRAIN MERIDA Team, especially on the flat stages at the Grand Tours.

After signing new contract with BAHRAIN MERIDA Team Navardauskas told: “I am very happy to become a member of this new team. I am looking forward to working with the team in the coming season. I think this team has signed many very experienced and talented guys. In the next few years I will try to support the team leaders as much as I can and also prove myself as an excellent rider.”

Brent Copeland added:

“This signing of such a great athlete brings us all great pleasure and honor. Ramunas is a signature of guarantee for team BAHRAIN MERIDA. He is the type of rider that you can always count on. He was a rider that we looked at from the very start of the project because he is such a complete rider and always present in the important races and moments of the races. At the age of 28 and after 8 years riding in the World Tour, he is a rider who brings a huge amount of experience to the team. Je has the talent to finish in many types of finishes and his third place at the 2015 world championships showed just how much talent he has. We at BAHARAIN MERIDA will support him in all his needs and are very much looking forward to seeing him racing our team colors for the future.”