Team captain Gerald Ciolek finished fifth in the Trofeo Laigueglia on Saturday, Team MTN-Qhubeka’s first European race as a Professional Continental outfit.
After 15km of racing, the day’s breakaway was formed with Leonardo Duque (Colombia), Antonio Barbio (Flaminia), Nicola Dal Santo (Flaminia), Thomas Raeymaeker (Novo Nordisk) and Florent Barle (Cofidis) making up the group. They were eventually brought back with just over 50km left.
Lampre-Merida and FDJ took control of the pace as the group went up the Testico for the final tme.
“The guys made no mistakes, everything happened like we hoped it would,” said directeur sportif Jens Zemke. “On the last climb, three guys rode away and Gerald attacked on the descent after them, so he was in the first big group of 20 or 30 riders in the finale.
“The team supported Gerald really well. It was very tricky to put him in a good position before the last climb with 25km to go. The guys did a fantastic job and supported him as much as they could.
“It’s a nice opening for us. We only just missed the podium but we’ve gained UCI points in the European Tour in our first race. That’s perfect.”
