With the 4 Days of Dunkirk traditionally being dominated by sprinters, MTN-Qhubeka have assembled all their fast finishers for the 5-day race in Northern France. Gerald Ciolek will lead the team and can count on strong support from fast riders Kristian Sbaragli, Andreas Stauff and Martin Reimer.

Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung will return to the 4 Jours de Dunkerque this year after debuting in the French stage race last season. The race starts tomorrow (Wednesday) and will end on Sunday after all 5 stages have been completed. This French race attracts a really strong field each year with its UCI2.HC ranking. Defending champion Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) along with Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) are just a few of the big names that will be part of this years event.

With the race suiting the fast men as opposed to the true climbers, Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung have assembled a really strong team to contest the fast finishes that are expected throughout the week. Gerald Ciolek will captain the team while Andreas Stauff and Martin Reimer will play an important role in the leadouts. Coming off a successful week in Turkey, Kristian Sbaragli, Martin Wesemann and Ferekalsi Debesay will join the 3 Germans while Adrien Niyonshuti and Songezo Jim complete our line up.

"It is the 60th edition of this race and for the most part it is the sprinters who are successful here," Directeur Sportif Jens Zemke said. "It sometimes happens that the fastest guy at this race can win multiple stages. The parcours is mostly flat but wind can play an important role and we also have some smaller climbs and a few cobblestone sections to deal with.

"Like always, we will have a good mixture of Africans and Europeans in our team. With Gerald as our captain we have also Andi Stauff and Martin Reimer for the lead out. Kristian Sbaragli comes from a successful Tour of Turkey and will provide us with another strong option this week.

"The first half of the year has been really busy with a lot of races and we tried to rotate our boys as much as we could. We still have lots of riders which are not able to compete at the moment so this has shortened the break for some other riders. Maybe some of our riders here will feel a bit tired but the whole team will have a break in July so they are ready to fight on this week."