{"id":20404,"date":"2013-06-13T22:07:53","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T20:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/mtn-qhubeka-fields-strong-squad-for-luxembourg\/"},"modified":"2013-06-13T22:07:53","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T20:07:53","slug":"mtn-qhubeka-fields-strong-squad-for-luxembourg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/mtn-qhubeka-fields-strong-squad-for-luxembourg\/","title":{"rendered":"MTN-Qhubeka fields strong squad for Luxembourg"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t \"MTN<\/a><\/p>\n

MTN \u2013 Qhubeka rider Youcef Reguigui.
Photo \u00a9 2013 Luca Bettini\/BettiniPhoto<\/p>\n

MTN-Qhubeka<\/a> will field a squad of its best climbers and sprinters for the five-day Skoda Tour de Luxembourg, which started on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

According to sport director Jens Zemke, Milan-San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek<\/a>, who has shown his outstanding ability to come over the climbs and win the resulting sprint, and Spanish climber Sergio Pardilla<\/a> would be the men in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

After successfully riding the Fleche du Sud last year, Zemke said the African team was very happy to be invited to this UCI 2.HC-rated tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make a good impression and advertise for our project to get bikes to kids in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciolek and Pardilla will look for support from Germans Andreas Stauff and Martin Reimer<\/a>, Lithuanian time trial specialist Ignatas Konovalovas<\/a>, and South Africans Jaco Venter, Jay Thomson and Jacques Janse van Rensburg.<\/p>\n

The race started with a 2.5km prologue on Wednesday evening. This will be followed by a 184km climbing stage from Luxembourg to Hautcharge on Thursday, which includes three category one ranked climbs.<\/p>\n

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