Milano-San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek and Spanish climber Sergio Pardilla will lead the MTN-Qhubeka team in the 2.HC-ranked Tour of Austria, starting this Sunday.

The two riders travel to Austria with good memories: Gerald Ciolek won two stages and the points ranking at the race in 2007, and he won the U23 world championship the year before in Salzburg. Sergio Pardilla climbed to 10th place overall in the race last year, and in 2010 was on the podium in Vienna as second overall. After his good results the last few weeks, the Spaniard looks to challenge for stage wins this year.

The team is eager to measure itself against the big names appearing in this year's race: „This year's race boasts some of the best riders it has ever had!” said sports director Jens Zemke, pointing to the startlist which includes names such as Cancellara, Boonen, Ballan, Hushovd and Basso.

„The Tour of Austria is one of our absolute highlights this year. We have a good line-up, and have the right riders on the team for every race situation. So we will do our best to promote our Qhubeka Bikes4Kids project with good results in Austria,” said Gerald Ciolek, who last weekend finished second behind Andre Greipel in the German championships. „The Tour is very professionally organized, there are first-class teams riding every year and we expect an exciting race, with the teams fighting it out on the flat as well as in the mountains.”

Zemke, who knows the race through the Alpine republic from his days as a pro rider, will look not only to Ciolek and Pardilla, but also to a strong team. Newly-crowned Lithuanian time trial champion Ignatas Konovalovas and former German champion Martin Reimer will wear the jersey of the African team in Austria, and the team will be completed by four South Africans: Johann van Zyl, Martin Wesemann, Louis Meintjes and Dennis van Niekerk.

„Unfortunately we have to do without South African champion Jay Thomson and his countryman Jaco Venter. Their visas have expired and they are now training in their homeland,” Jens Zemke explained. „But we are taking a good squad to Innsbruck. Gerald Ciolek is our man for the flat stages, and in the mountains we have Sergio Pardilla, Dennis van Niekerk and Louis Meintjes as strong climbers. Our goal is to win a stage.”

The 65th edition of the International Tour of Austria starts on Sunday in Innsbruck and runs over 1,115.2 kilometers and eight stages to the national capital, Vienna, where it ends on the 7th of July. Highlights of the race include the dreaded climb to the Kitzbüheler Horn on stage 2 and the famous Großglockner on stage 4. The time trial specialists will have their day on the penultimate stage in the race against the clock along the Podersdorfer See before the race ends in Vienna, usually with a mass sprint.

MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung line-up for the Tour of Austria:

Gerald Ciolek, Martin Reimer, Ignatas Konovalovas, Sergio Pardilla, Johann van Zyl, Louis Meintjes, Martin Wesemann, Dennis van Niekerk