Led by Milan-San Remo conqueror, Gerald Ciolek, South African team MTN-Qhubeka will be part of the Bayern Rundfahrt peloton in May. The German race published six wildcard invitations for Professional Continental teams earlier on Wednesday.

In addition to MTN-Qhubeka, the wildcards were granted to IAM Cycling, Novo Nordisk, NetApp-Endura, Sojasun and Europcar.

“Sometimes a team's status doesn't say a lot. To speak of these teams as 'second league' is hardly right even when it is that way on paper,” said Ewald Strohmeier, head of the race on the race website. “But most recently Gerald Ciolek's success in San Remo showed that one of the best riders in the world is underway with this team.”

The six Professional Continental teams will face competition from nine WorldTour teams in the race: Sky, Euskaltel-Euskadi, FDJ, Garmin-Sharp, Orica-GreenEDGE, Blanco, Lampre-Merida, Ag2r la Mondiale and Argos-Shimano. An additional four Continental teams will also receive invitations.

The Bayern Rundfahrt takes place from May 21 to 25. It starts in Mühldorf am Inn and ends 5 stages and 775 km later with a circuit course in downtown Nürnberg.