With rumours emerging that Vincenzo Nibali and Rafal Majka will captai the Bahrain Cycling Project, Lampre-Merida’s Brent Copeland has been confirmed as the team’s manager.

With Lampre-Merida’s WorldTour licence for 2017 yet to be confirmed, Copeland is swooping to take some of his current riders with him, including Louis Meintjes.

Along with Nibali and Majka, Copeland has his eyes on another of his current riders, Diego Ulissi, who had a brilliant Giro. The agent of Roman Kreuziger has also reportedly been in touch to try and get his client on the team, according to Cyclingnews.