MTN-Qhubeka’s Merhawi Kudus is the youngest rider in the Vuelta a Espana this year, at only 20 years old.

He is one of three Eritreans in the race and is part of MTN’s debut Grand Tour squad. He is happy with his form and is excited ahead of the race, after he placed fifth in the difficult Route du Sud.

“Right now I’m really strong and I feel good,” he said. “It’s really super to be here and it’s really exciting to ride on this team. To find opportunities to ride a grand tour is not so easy.”

Kudus will target the first week, where there are plenty of stages that can suit a pure climber like him.

“There are a lot of uphill stage finishes so there are a lot of opportunities for me especially in the second week with the hardest climbs, but we’ll have to see how I am feeling – I’ve never done more than ten days racing, so we will see.”

“It’s my first WorldTour stage race so the top riders are here for one of the hardest Vueltas, so to ride with them, to fight with them is going to be really hard.”

Kudus has proved his talent, riding to second overall in the Tour of Langkawi but he broke his collarbone in the final stage of the Tour of Turkey, where he was on for a top 10 finish on GC. But just six weeks later, he took the top result in France at the Route du Sud.