Milan-Sanremo winner Gerald Ciolek was forced to miss the Scheldeprijs and GP Pino Cerami due to a cold. On Wednesday, the German sprinter will return to action in the Belgian semiclassic Brabantse Pijl.

Gerald Ciolek gave his new South African team MTN Qhubeka the perfect start when he outsprinted Peter Sagan to take a fantastic win in the season's first monument, the Milan-Sanremo. After a short break, he returned to competition in the Driedaagse van de Panne and the Volta Limburg Classic but a cold kept him from delivering the expected performances.

He chose to sit out last week's Scheldeprijs and the GP Pino Cerami to recover and the German is now ready to return to competition. He will lead his Belgian team in Wednesday's Brabantse Pijl which is a hilly warm-up race for the Ardennes classics.

“I am really happy that we will have eight riders at the start again after having a heavy virus last week which put three riders out,” directeur sportif, Jens Zemke said. “Brabantse Pijl is the opening of the Ardennes races and it will be our first ever Ardennes Classic. We are proud to be part of it and will show that we can be part of the action. We will go to the race with Gerald as captain on Wednesday.”

The race should suit Ciolek who - despite his reputation as a sprinter - is strong in the hilly terrain. The illness raises some questions regarding his form but at his best he should be able to challenge on the difficult course.

He will be assisted by a number of in-form riders. Andreas Stauff proved his good condition with a 20th in the Scheldeprijs and a 7th in the GP Pino Cerami but the course may be just a bit too hard for the fast German.

Youcef Reguigui is a highly talented Algerian who makes his professional debut this season, and he has impressed in a number of races. The South African Martin Wesemann almost single-handedly closed down a 17-man group to set up Staff for his 7th place finish in the GP Pino Cerami and will also be able to provide Ciolek valuable support.

The team is completed by former German road race champion Martin Reimer, former Giro d'Italia stage winner Ignatas Konovalovas, talented Italian Kristian Sbaragli - who was in the top 10 in a Tirreno-Adriatico stage - and South African Bradley Potgieter. The latter three all return from illness.

The Brabantse Pijl will be the only Ardennes race for the South African team which has not been invited to any of the three big classics the Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Instead, the team will focus on the Tour of Turkey after Wednesday's race.