After signing Reinardt Janse van Resnburg and Edvald Boasson Hagen and a deal with Theo Bos looking imminent, MTN-Qhubeka are showing no sings of stopping there, with Matt Goss, Tyler Farrar and Steve Cummings believed to be the next three names at the top of their transfer list.

Brian Smith, the interim general manager of the team, has been charged with recruiting new riders and team principal Doug Ryder admits there is an interest in the three out of contract riders.

“Those guys are on the list but we have quite a lot of guys on our list at the moment when it comes to building the stage race and Classics group within the team,” he told Cyclingnews.

“We want to go for stage wins and to show off the global element of the team. We need to get riders who can win more races and we’re talking to more riders but nothing has been finalised yet and nothing has been offered.”

No matter who else is signed, none will be of as much importance to the team and its objectives as Boasson Hagen will be however.

“Boasson Hagen is one of the best one day riders in the world and he’s an incredible talent. He can win some big races in partnership with our other riders and he gives us a lot more options. He was quite a coup for our team.”

Ryder is also sure that Boasson Hagen can recapture his results of a few years ago with MTN-Qhubeka in 2015.

“You don’t turn a donkey into a race horse and he’s definitely a race horse. I believe that with the right structure and the right focus we can bring the best out of him. Like we did with Ciolek who was maybe slightly lost at QuickStep in terms of not knowing what his real focus was.”

“Boasson Hagen could have ended up in a situation like that where other riders took preference over him. With our structure and our culture I think he can be successful and get back to winning.”