Today, Team MTN-Qhubeka has finished their first race of the season in Gabon. The seventh and last stage of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo was driven and the team is happy with the outcome. Linus Gerdemann finished in top 5 in his first race after a year’s break.

But that weren’t everything. Ferekalsi Debesay won stage 4 of the race and Songenzo Jim has received the great honour of being the most combative rider. Gerdemann is satisfied with his comeback.

“I’m really happy with how things went,” Gerdemann said at the end of the stage. “To finish in the top five in my first race for over a year is good. I came here to get some racing in the legs and I felt very strong. I was also surprised by the level of the racing here. I think it was a very good advert for African cycling. I wasn’t surprised by Ferekalsi’s win at all because from the first day he was so strong. The guys on the team are incredible and have huge potential. John-Lee [Augustyn] and I in particular used his experience to help the younger guys. I am excited for the season ahead,” Gerdemann added.

The team strategy was to drive very aggressive during the whole race and that succeeded for the African team.

“Overall the team rode really well and we were in the racing every day except for maybe today. The guys were working well together and they really gelled which is great for the first race of the season. Ultimately we would have liked a little more but it doesn’t always go according to plan,” Campbell said.

“We’re happy to have won a stage. This is our third participation in the race and we’re happy to walk away with a victory. We would have liked to achieve more in GC and place a rider on the podium but there was some really good opposition here this year.”