The Coppi e Bartali is the next appointment for most of the climbers as MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung start the 4 day, 5 stage Italian race this Thursday. 

Racing gets underway with 2 half stages on the opening day. After the morning road stage, the Coppi e Bartali will once again have the unique team time trial stage where 4 riders per team will make up 2 teams each for the stage. The remaining stages in the week will see the parcours suit the climbers on stages 2 and 4 while stage 3 should be one for the sprinters.

The Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung riders selected to battle it out with the other 22 teams on the start line are Steve Cummings, Louis Meintjes, Jacques Janse van Rensburg, Adrien Niyonshuti, Natnael Berhane, Johann van Zyl, Jaco Venter and Songezo Jim.

MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung will be targeting each of the undulating stages for a top stage result while with Cummings' and Venter's talent against the clock at our disposal, a good GC result is also possible with the inclusion of the team time trial.

"We are excited to race at Coppi e Bartali with a 90% African roster. We have a strong team and our recent results have showed this. We will focus on the team time trial on the first day, making it a definite priority. After a good performance in the team time trial we can then fight for the GC. Besides that, a stage win is realistic with the strong team we have here and the guys will do their best to get it," sports director Alex Sans Vega said.