Yesterday afternoon the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) announced the wildcard teams that will be taking part in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Fleche Wallonne. MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung are delighted to have received invitations to both World Tour events.
The Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Fleche Wallonne form part of the 3 World Tour Ardennes Classics, also known as the climbers classics. The Amstel Gold Race is the third event, which MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung will also be competing at after receiving the invitation some weeks back already.
To be part of the biggest races in world cycling has been our African team’s goal since turning professional in 2013. As one of the five monuments of world cycling, Liege-Bastogne-Liege (26 April) is not only a goal event for our riders but, it is important that we compete in the oldest classic of all in order to further globalise the Qhubeka brand.
Fleche Wallonne holds an important place on the international cycling calendar (22 April), placed between the Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. To have MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung present at the ‘Walloon Arrow‘ ensures our riders have every opportunity to compete at the highest possible level, while giving our team maximum exposure throughout the Ardennes Classics week.
As we are extremely grateful for the invitations that have been extended to our team, we will honour these events by bringing a strong line-up of riders to both races. Racing aggressively to show our team colours and finishing with a top result will be our intention. Louis Meintjes, Our young South African rider already stated last year that ‘La Doyenne‘ is a race he would love to win one day.
Louis Meintjes – Rider
I am really happy about our teams Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Fleche Wallonne invitations. Liege is one of my favourite races and there is just something special about it. I did the race last year and hope to use the experience I gained to get a better result this year.
Jens Zemke – Head of Performance
It is an honour to get invited to the big Ardennes Classic races. It takes time to achieve results in these tough races but our team with mostly African riders are getting there. We love the passion for cycling in this region with its long tradition and where famous riders have had their sweat burnt into the asphalt. We look forward to showing our stripes in both these races.
