Team MTN Qhubeka p/b Samsung goes from one premiere in international cycling to the next. While a team around Spanish climbing specialist Sergio Pardilla made its debut this week in the Giro del Trentino, a further squad around team captain Gerald Ciolek will appear for the first time in the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey starting on Sunday.

“The Tour of Turkey is an important race for our team as it forms a part of the UCI Europe Tour which we would like to perform well in this year. The team will be aggressive in the race and go for stage wins and possibly the overall general classification as well,“ says team principal Doug Ryder.

“We can already look back at some respectable successes, so we can ride confidently in Turkey in order to spread the Qhubeka message,” said Jens Zemke. “On the flat stages, we have Gerald Ciolek as a fast sprinter at the head of things. At the same time, we want to continue our attacking style of the last few weeks. It would be great if that could be reflected in the results. Especially Jaco Venter has been in escape groups in the last few races to present our colours. But we also look to Dennis van Niekerk to do something here.”

Team principal Doug Ryder and Sport Director Jens Zemke rely on a motivated team on the Bosporus. In addition to Gerald Ciolek, Jaco Venter and Dennis van Niekerk, the MTN Qhubeka p/b Samsung colours will be worn by South Africans Bradley Potgieter and Martin Wesemann, German all-rounder Andreas Stauff and Italian Kristian Sbaragli. The team will also be supported by Lithuanian Ignatas Konovalovas, who is building back up to strength after a muscle injury.

MTN line-up for Tour of Turkey:
Andreas Stauff (GER), Bradley Potgieter (RSA), Ignatas Konovalovas (LTU), Dennis van Niekerk (RSA), Gerald Ciolek (GER), Martin Wesemann (RSA), Jaco Venter (RSA), Kristian Sbaragli (ITA)