MTN-Qhubeka continues their rapid development towards the top end of the sport and has now announced the signing of their biggest name yet. Edvald Boasson Hagen will be riding for the African team in the next two years, bringing the speculation about his future to an end.

Over the last few months, there has been lots of speculation about Edvald Boasson Hagen's future. Already in May, it became apparent that the Norwegian was likely to leave Sky after 5 years with the British team to search for a clearer leadership role.

For a long time, he was rumoured to be signing with Tinkoff-Saxo but after Olev Tinkov publicly vented his frustration over the negotiations on Twitter, it became obvious that his future lies elsewhere. Now he has finally put the speculation to an end by signing a two-year contract with the MTN-Qhubeka team where he is set to be the big star and team leader.

"It´s been five great seasons with Team Sky, but the time has come to seek new challenges," he said. "MTN-Qhubeka has a very good platform and a framework that fits me very well, so I´m sure this is a very good choice for the next seasons.
 
"I´ve had several options for the future, among them also World Tour teams. But after some consideration this is the team I most of all want to ride for in the future.

"They are upgrading the team for next season, but already this year they have received wild cards for most of the races I would like to do next year. The team takes part in the Vuelta right now, which is their first Grand Tour. For next year they are targeting the Tour. So I feel safe about the race program, and I really look forward to focus on new goals in the MTN-Qhubeka jersey.

"The African riders I have seen race this year and I hope to help them with my experience as they are great talents. The other thing I really enjoy is this team does not just race for themselves but for a charity."

"We are really excited to welcome Edvald Boasson Hagen into Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung," team principal Douglas Ryder said. "We believe he is one of the best riders in the world and we look forward to seeing him achieve great results for himself as well as mentor our young African talents. We want to become one of the best teams in the world to assist the African riders to get into the biggest races in cycling and this is a huge step in that direction

"In the last 2 years of racing as a Pro Continental team we have seen our riders develop and perform really well. The team has come a long way because the riders love the opportunities they are getting and they try and make every opportunity count."

MTN-Qhubeka is also rumoured to be close to signing contracts with Matt Goss, Tyler Farrar and Theo Bos.