South Africa’s MTN-Qhubeka notched up their first podium in their maiden WorldTour race.
German team captain Gerald Ciolek sprinted to third place on the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy on Thursday.
After 232km of racing from San Vincenzo to Indicatore, he was beaten to the line by stage winner Matthew Harley Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) and Manuel Belleti (AG2R). Ciolek’s Italian teammate Kristian Sbaragli placed eighth on a rain-filled day.
“That was the perfect start in our first WorldTour race,” said Ciolek.
“We ride for a fantastic project to get African kids on bicycles. That is a great motivation for me and the team.
“The guys prepared the sprint for Gerald really well,” said sport director Jens Zemke.
“The best are at the start here, so this is the perfect beginning for such an important race.”
After two of the seven stages, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) leads overall ahead of his teammates Michael Kwiatkowski and Niki Terpstra.
