With a cold forcing team captain Gerald Ciolek out of the race, few expected MTN Qhubeka to be heavily involved in the final of Le Samyn yesterday. In the end, two of the team's other riders stepped up and produced top 10 performances.

The new African professional continental team MTN Qhubeka has had an impressive start to the season. With a firm grip on the team classification and Sergio Pardilla on his way to an overall third place in Tour de Langkawi and with Ciolek's strong performances in Trofeo Laigueglia and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, there are encouraging signs that the team may be able to punch above its weight against the bigger teams.

The team expected Ciolek to continue his strong start to the season in yesterday's Walloon season opener, Le Samyn. However, a cold which had bothered him for some days had not improved sufficiently, and so team management made a decision to withdraw him from the race before the start. This left a number of the team's lesser known riders with the opportunity to go for personal glory. And so they did.

As the peloton hammered towards the finish line behind late attacker and eventual winner Alexey Tsatevich (Katusha), the team's young Italian neoprofessional Kristian Sbaragli produced an impressive sprint to secure fifth place for the team. Behind him, the former QuickStep rider Andreas Stauff completed the team's strong showing by finishing 8th.

The performance pleased sport director Jens Zemke.

“I think Ciolek would have done well if he was here, but Kristian and Andreas did really well in the sprint to take up this leadership position,” he said after the race. “We were riding really well today, we has Youcef Reguigui in the first move, and when they were brought back Johann van Zyl then rode off the front.”

In the final, another of the team's more established members proved strong form. The former Credit Agricole, Cervelo and Movistar rider Ignatas Konovalovas was involved in a dangerous move with Bert-Jan Lindeman (Vacansoleil), Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas (both Team Sky) in the final 10 kilometers. Zemke finds the offensive approach of the team encouraging.

“Ignatas Konovalovas  went after Thomas with Ian Stannard. These are really strong riders, and we were present all the time. We are here to show that we are not just here to make up the numbers. We are here to be part of the race."

The team gets its next chance to prove this philosophy when the same eight riders line up in the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen tomorrow before the team gets its WorldTour debut in Tirreno-Adriatico next week.